Brain’s waste-clearance pathways revealed for the first time. Wastes include proteins such as amyloid and tau, which have been shown to form clumps and tangles in brain images of patients with Alzheimer’s disease.

[u/Wagamaga]

https://news.ohsu.edu/2024/10/07/brains-waste-clearance-pathways-revealed-for-the-first-time

[u/watermelonkiwi]

https://www.npr.org/2024/07/22/1198910426/brain-waste-sleep-removal-amyloid-alzheimer-toxins   

Basically during sleep your body pumps spinal fluid through your brain, washing out the waste, and then delivering it to the liver and kidneys. Pretty cool, seems we’ve finally figured out sleep’s function.

[u/Neat_Criticism_5996 → u/watermelonkiwi]

I remember learning this on a podcast or article a few years ago. It must be a new aspect of this process they’ve discovered?

Edit: ok it looks like this is the first time those structures have been imaged, confirming their existence and giving more details how they work.

[u/watermelonkiwi → u/Neat_Criticism_5996]

Yeah, I think it was just a theory before.

[u/randylush → u/watermelonkiwi]

seems we’ve finally figured out sleep’s function

One of sleep’s functions. I’m sure there are more.

[u/watermelonkiwi → u/randylush]

I agree, but I think this is the biggest one.

[u/CausticSofa → u/watermelonkiwi]

The body scans that show the process in effect are crazy too. It’s like your body is running a dishwasher cycle while you sleep.

[u/ScreenTricky4257 → u/CausticSofa]

Similar to a dishwasher it runs multiple cycles instead of one steady process. I believe each cycle runs ~90 minutes.