r/science • u/Potential_Being_7226 PhD | Psychology | Neuroscience • 13d ago

Neuroscience Boosting brain’s waste removal system improves memory in old mice | Researchers found that rejuvenating the lymphatic vessels in the brain enhanced recognition memory and restored synaptic function through an interleukin-6 (IL-6) pathway.

https://medicine.washu.edu/news/boosting-brains-waste-removal-system-improves-memory-in-old-mice/
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u/chessmasterjj 13d ago edited 13d ago

How do we clean out our brain of waste? 

Edit: Just says they boosted the lymphatic system of the mice, doesn't say how. If you give "strengthen lymphatic system" a Goog you get physical exercise, hydration and healthy diet. 

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u/Potential_Being_7226 PhD | Psychology | Neuroscience 13d ago

Adequate sleep and exercise are two good ways to improve lymphatic drainage.

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u/livens 13d ago

Exercise, it's always exercise.

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u/Dmeechropher 13d ago

It's exercise until we find interventions which are more effective than just protecting the natural system as long as possible.

Nature has a billion year lead on metastable nano-tech on us, with hundreds of thousands of years of human "clinical trials".

Eventually, I expect that we'll find medical interventions which improve beyond baseline. We (scientists & engineers) need mastery of nano-scale biological systems to do it. Until then, basically all medical interventions are geared towards finding ways to help the body return to baseline.