In a Study on Mice, Scientists Show How the Brain Washes Itself During Sleep, 2025

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kushami

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Quote from Smithsonian article:

The new study reveals that, during a mouse’s non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) sleep, the brainstem releases waves of norepinephrine (a known hormone similar to adrenaline) about every 50 seconds, which causes blood vessels to tighten. This also creates a pulsing pattern, which generates oscillating blood volume, that, in turn, drives the brain fluid flow that washes away the toxins. Simply put, the norepinephrine triggers a pump-like effect that pushes fluid around the brain to rinse waste buildup.
 
BrightCandle

BrightCandle

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This might be why I don't have much REM sleep. I had thought it was because I wasn't deep sleeping properly but there has been some evidence we don't appear to be clearing the brain properly it may be holding onto deep sleep for longer to try and get more blood flow but it can't produce the norepinephrine.
 
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bad1080

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this in combination with remission reports from people with insomnia and/or other sleep disturbances (like this one: reddit.com/r/cfs/comments/1i5z8q5/sleep_disturbances_resulting_in_long_term/ or this one: https://forums.phoenixrising.me/thr...rom-very-severe-to-moderate-in-14-days.92017/ ) made me think how maybe the virus causing me-cfs (which is present in your brain at that point) is hijacking this process of brain washing somehow, in a way that gets disturbed by either not being able to sleep or frequent awakening, but that's just pure speculation on my part.

of course that is only if a similar brain washing process exists in humans.
 
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Wishful

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sb4 said:
Maybe our baseline levels of norepinephrine are already high so the surge wakes us up all night.
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I think if that were true, someone would have noticed it clinically. Of course, there could be localized effects, such as a few specific neurons being extra sensitive.
 
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Wishful

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Most things I've read imply that we only dream during a certain period of our sleep cycles (REM), which takes time to reach. I have noticed that some mornings, I wake up, and sometimes I fall asleep again for just a few minutes, but dream during that time. So, sleep states aren't quite as simple as often implied.
 
junkcrap50

junkcrap50

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I remember reading a study about how they activated the glymphatics on mice to drain by putting a medication on topically on the neck at the cervical lymph nodes. It stimulated the cervical lymph nodes which drained them and pulled down waste from the glymphatics. I couldn't find the study again a couple days and can't remember the medication, but the medication was something that's available now.
EDIT: Found it. https://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/cleaning-up-the-aging-brain-616872/
 
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bad1080

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junkcrap50 said:
I remember reading a study about how they activated the glymphatics on mice to drain by putting a medication on topically on the neck at the cervical lymph nodes. It stimulated the cervical lymph nodes which drained them and pulled down waste from the glymphatics. I couldn't find the study again a couple days and can't remember the medication, but the medication was something that's available now.
EDIT: Found it. https://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/cleaning-up-the-aging-brain-616872/
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"identified a drug called prostaglandin F2α, a hormone-like compound commonly used medically to induce labor and known to aid smooth muscle contraction. The lymphangions are lined with smooth muscle cells, and when the researchers applied the drug to the cervical lymph vessels in older mice, the frequency of contractions and the flow of dirty CSF from the brain both increased, returning to a level of efficiency found in younger mice"
 
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