An ependymal cell is a cell of the ependyma, the lining of the brain ventricular system and central canal of the spinal cord. Many ventricular ependymal cells carry multiple motile cilia facing the cerebrospinal fluid. Their coordinated beating can move nearby fluid; the cells are distinct from the neurons whose signaling circuits surround the cavity.[ref]
Anatomy and Physiology 2e by J. Gordon Betts and others. Nervous tissue: ependymal cells and cerebrospinal-fluid circulation
In a 2016 study, organized cilia modules in the mouse third ventricle generated structured fluid-flow networks and a periodically switching flow pattern.[ref]
Cilia-based flow network in the brain ventricles by Regina Faubel and others. Abstract; collective ciliary transport
The result illustrates how an epithelial lining can actively organize its fluid environment rather than simply delimit it. A cilium on one cell acts locally; tissue-level organization determines the collective transport pattern.Tanycytes are specialized ependymal-related cells with long processes. Their geometry and functions should not be assigned indiscriminately to every ependymal cell.
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