Sleep Drives Metabolite Clearance from the Adult Brain
Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2015 5:50 am
http://europepmc.org/articles/pmc3880190
I would like to see a researcher use "real-time assessments of tetramethylammonium diffusion and two-photon imaging" in humans, as this study was done in mice, and comparing healthy subjects with CCSVI subjects. This is a way to test the theory that CCSVI impairs CSF flow and thereby impairs cleansing of the brain.Sleep Drives Metabolite Clearance from the Adult Brain
Lulu Xie,1,* Hongyi Kang,1,* Qiwu Xu,1 Michael J. Chen,1 Yonghong Liao,1 Meenakshisundaram Thiyagarajan,1 John O’Donnell,1 Daniel J. Christensen,1 Charles Nicholson,2 Jeffrey J. Iliff,1 Takahiro Takano,1 Rashid Deane,1 and Maiken Nedergaard1,†
Abstract
The conservation of sleep across all animal species suggests that sleep serves a vital function. We here report that sleep has a critical function in ensuring metabolic homeostasis. Using real-time assessments of tetramethylammonium diffusion and two-photon imaging in live mice, we show that natural sleep or anesthesia are associated with a 60% increase in the interstitial space, resulting in a striking increase in convective exchange of cerebrospinal fluid with interstitial fluid. In turn, convective fluxes of interstitial fluid increased the rate of β-amyloid clearance during sleep. Thus, the restorative function of sleep may be a consequence of the enhanced removal of potentially neurotoxic waste products that accumulate in the awake central nervous system.