“Dr. Maiken Nedergaard and her colleagues at the University of Rochester Medical Center recently discovered a system that drains waste products from the brain. Cerebrospinal fluid, a clear liquid surrounding the brain and spinal cord, moves through the brain along a series of channels that surround blood vessels. The system is managed by the brain’s glial cells, and so the researchers called it the glymphatic system. [...] The scientists also reported that the glymphatic system can help remove a toxic protein called beta-amyloid from brain tissue. Beta-amyloid is renowned for accumulating in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease.”
“Low levels in the cerebrospinal fluid of βamyloid 42 (Aβ 42), which signifies the presence of amyloid plaques, are associated with poor sleep efficiency, although not sleep quantity, a new study has found.”
“We report a normal sleep-wake cycle and diurnal fluctuation in ISF Aβ in the brain of the APPswe/PS1δE9 mouse model of AD before Aβ plaque formation. After plaque formation, the sleep-wake cycle markedly deteriorated and diurnal fluctuation of ISF Aβ dissipated.”
How sleep clears the brain.
“Dr. Maiken Nedergaard and her colleagues at the University of Rochester Medical Center recently discovered a system that drains waste products from the brain. Cerebrospinal fluid, a clear liquid surrounding the brain and spinal cord, moves through the brain along a series of channels that surround blood vessels. The system is managed by the brain’s glial cells, and so the researchers called it the glymphatic system. [...] The scientists also reported that the glymphatic system can help remove a toxic protein called beta-amyloid from brain tissue. Beta-amyloid is renowned for accumulating in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease.”
A human study: Sleep Quality, Not Quantity, Linked to Amyloid Deposition
“Low levels in the cerebrospinal fluid of βamyloid 42 (Aβ 42), which signifies the presence of amyloid plaques, are associated with poor sleep efficiency, although not sleep quantity, a new study has found.”
Disruption of the sleep-wake cycle and diurnal fluctuation of β-amyloid in mice with Alzheimer’s disease pathology.
“We report a normal sleep-wake cycle and diurnal fluctuation in ISF Aβ in the brain of the APPswe/PS1δE9 mouse model of AD before Aβ plaque formation. After plaque formation, the sleep-wake cycle markedly deteriorated and diurnal fluctuation of ISF Aβ dissipated.”