

Scientists Discover How Brains Keep Clean - a5seo
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/08/brain-waste-cleaning/

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iSnow
Maybe I am completely off track, but you don't need radioactive marker
molecules if you go for two-photon imaging, you need fluorescent markers.

Also, it is sad to see that even today, every publication in the neurobiology
field has to mention Alzheimer's. It's about finding how the brain works, and
if it is applicable to Alzheimer's, then great, but at the current state, this
is a very long shot.

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jacques_chester
I think the connection is made to Alzheimers because ... there might be a
connection.

Like they say right there in the article, one of the waste products is
amyloid. Given amyloid buildup is pretty much what we consider Alzheimers to
be, I don't see why it's ridiculous to pencil in an arrow here.

I mean if some people's bathtubs were overflowing and scientists had just
discovered how drains work, don't you think it would be reasonable to
speculate on a connection?

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thundara
It's also an extremely important medical condition to treat. If you show
promise of a breakthrough in treating Alzheimer's, you can save hundreds of
thousands of minds every single year. With the upcoming wave of elderly in the
US, the cost of untreated Alzheimer's is predicted to skyrocket.

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jacques_chester
In fairness to iSnow, I'm not a disinterested observer. I have skin in this
game.

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thundara
Last I checked, it wasn't clear whether the amyloid plaque buildup was a cause
or side effect of Alzheimer's. Has the understanding of this changed in the
past four years?

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jacques_chester
My understanding is that it's the "cause", insofar as plaque buildup
interferes with the normal operation of brain cells.

Of course, I am neither a neuroscientist nor a neurologist.

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egeozcan
I've seen the title and the first idea I had was "oh well it must be the most
optimized garbage collector, ever". It's not weird to think that, right?

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firefoxman1
Could this be why vasodilators like vimpocetine improve mental performance?
Maybe it's half about getting more nutrients to the brain and half improving
the garbage collector?

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itmag
Do you have personal experience with nootropics? :)

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firefoxman1
Yeah, I've been trying several different types for the past 6 months or so.

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itmag
Please email me.

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stretchwithme
I would not be surprised if exercise accelerated the brain's waste removal.

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jaekwon
Water channels around blood vessels... looks like the channels might be
powered by heartbeats as well.

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nodata
Interesting. So how does this affect people who have non-beating pacemakers?

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jaekwon
good question

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splicer
I'm going to go drink another glass of water...

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jacques_chester
Looks like an exciting new avenue of research.

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nacker
To me, this article boiled down to two sentences: "Cerebrospinal fluid flowed
along the outside of blood vessels, carried through a network of pipe-like
protein structures. The fluid picked up waste that accumulated between cells,
then drained out through major veins."

Unfortunately, it didn't deal with intracellular waste, which is a major issue
over a lifetime. The only known way of addressing that is through caloric
restriction. Some links:

[http://www.hyperink.com/Fasting-For-Cleansing-
Autophagy-b274...](http://www.hyperink.com/Fasting-For-Cleansing-
Autophagy-b274a336)

[http://www.pittsburghpatrika.com/2012/06/fasting-is-good-
for...](http://www.pittsburghpatrika.com/2012/06/fasting-is-good-for-you-it-
helps-remove-waste-debris-at-the-cellular-level/)

[http://www.nature.com/cdd/journal/v12/n2s/fig_tab/4401728ft....](http://www.nature.com/cdd/journal/v12/n2s/fig_tab/4401728ft.html)

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2670399/>

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16874025>

[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969996109...](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969996109000047)

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2670399/>

Bottom line, there is NO FREE LUNCH!

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ericxb
Consuming trehalose (a sugar) may also help.

[http://metamodern.com/2010/09/15/trehalose-autophagy-and-
bra...](http://metamodern.com/2010/09/15/trehalose-autophagy-and-brain-repair-
sweet/)

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somedayme
I don't know about you, but my brain is totally dirty.

