Photo: danagouws
Scientists have known about one of the brain’s cleaning-systems for awhile. But they have long speculated there is more going on.
Well, technology has finally put the tools in-hand to prove them right.
Through a new technique called two-photon microscopy, the Rochester team was finally-able to observe what they always believed.
And their observations prove another point science has made for awhile: they can’t figure it all out yet, but good sleep is Absolutely-Crucial to good health.
And this higher-pressure hydraulic system the doctors are calling “The Glymphatic System” operates exclusively during sleep.
What it does, is to shrink the size of brain-cells by a large amount to open up more space, and then like a power-washer, flushes Cerebro-Spinal Fluid through the series of pipes that parallel the brain’s circulatory-system for blood, blasting out all the waste.
Now, two of the things you often hear about with people getting on in age are: lighter, shorter sleep-periods and Alzheimer’s disease.
Well, it turns out that in the mice the researchers measured, more than 50% of all the waste-products removed were done at-night.
Oh, and those waste products? -They’re called … [drumroll please]…
AMYLOID-BETA!!!
-BOOM!
(yup, the EXACT same stuff that is found to be gunking-up the brains of people suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease.)
So: Now “all” scientists have to do is find out what’s screwing-up the astracyte-aquaporin plumbing-system and try to come up with some type of Drano to blast it out. (at this point, looking for a possible fault in the piping would be like trying to find 1 needle hidden in 100 Billion Haystacks)
-And then they’ll have “cured” Alzheimer’s Disease. -Wonder if the previous experiments with Enbrel actually did something similar.
Check out further details at the Links, and remember: Get your shut-eye, kiddies! The very foundation of your -Self- probably depends on it!:
Links:
• Source: URMC-Scientists Discover Previously Unknown Cleansing System in Brain
• via: Forbes
• Source Study: Science-Sleep Drives Metabolite Clearance from the Adult Brain
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