Special imaging has helped scientists take a look inside the human brain to learn how it clears out the waste that causes neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. According to researchers at Oregon Health & Science University, brain cells use up nutrients — which means they produce a lot of waste, especially while you’re sleeping.

Scientists say they have observed a network of tiny waste-clearing channels in the brains of living people. “I was skeptical,” said Dr. Juan Piantino of Oregon Health & Science University, whose team reported the findings in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “We needed this piece to show that this happens in humans too,” he said.

How does the brain clear its garbage?

Researchers, contrary to earlier belief, say that the brain is highly active when you’re sleeping – and that’s when it does its deep cleaning. According to studies, people who do not get regular and good night’s sleep have wide-ranging effects on their thinking and memory.

Additionally, chronic sleep deprivation is thought to be a major risk factor for dementia – a general term for a range of symptoms that affect a person’s cognitive abilities such as thinking, remembering and reasoning. It can interfere with a person’s daily life and activities and can range in severity from mild to severe.

About ten years ago, some researchers found a network they call the glymphatic system, in which cerebrospinal fluid uses channels around blood vessels to move waste deep into the tissue and out of the brain. So, when studies were conducted on mice, they were injected with the main Alzheimer’s culprit called beta-amyloid – a protein – and it was rapidly eliminated while the animals were sleeping.

However, it was difficult to find in humans and regular MRI scans could only see some of those fluid-filled channels. But could not show this function.

So, now, the Oregon team injected a tracer into five patients who were undergoing brain surgery and needed a more advanced form of MRI. The tracer “lighted up” under those scans and sure enough, after at least two days, the tracer—which was not moving randomly through the brain, just like the earlier study found in rats—resulted in those channels. Started making progress.

How will the study help? human brain function,

Researchers say that even though this is a small study, it is expected to increase interest in how brain waste clearance connects to people’s health. However, because sleep is an important part of good health, “I wanted to be able to measure glymphatic function in people,” said Dr. Jeff Iliff of the University of Washington, who helped pioneer the waste-clearance research.

Dr. Iliff said sleep isn’t the only question because several animal studies have shown that an old blood pressure drug—now used to treat PTSD—can help improve glymphatic function. could, and Iliff and colleague Dr. Elaine Peskind are certainly going to study it in patients.

Additional larger studies in healthy people are needed and Piantino, whose lab focuses on sleep health, wanted to find an easier, more non-invasive test. “We can’t study all these questions by injecting people,” he said.

So far, it’s not clear how that network works, although some research has shown that the pulsation of blood vessels helps move waste-clearing fluid where it needs to go.

Get the latest news live on Times Now with breaking news and top headlines from health and around the world.