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/
8.3k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

242 comments sorted by

View all comments

14

u/LebrontosaurausRex 13d ago

This is such a big deal for those of us doing harm reduction work. I’ve been saying for a while: plaque in the brain isn’t the problem (think of plaque as an "etching" agent), it’s the result of a system that couldn’t flush itself. This study basically says that if you boost the brain’s waste-clearing system memory improves, it doesn't mess with the generation of plaque just how long it sits around.

I work with a lot of folks who are unhoused, have survived overdoses, and are living with long-term meth or opioid use. And what we see all the time memory loss, personality changes, psychosis is a result of no sleep, no hydration, no regulation, no safety. Drugs are a PART, mental illness is a PART not the WHOLE story. You don’t get deep sleep? The brain doesn’t rinse itself. Meth REALLY destroys sleep, floods you with dopamine and inflammation, and breaks your internal rhythm. So over time you’re not just fried, you’re full of leftover junk the brain never had time to clean up.

That’s where the paranoia, disconnection, and memory loss come in. It's not just a mental illness thing, it's a natural consequence This is what happens when the brain can't sequence and clear.

And honestly, watching the federal government come for HUD and transitional housing during an economic collapse makes me sick. I’m a harm reduction social worker, If we gut what little structure still helps people reset, we can't be surprised at the results we are about to get in the American South.

2

u/StormlitRadiance 13d ago

>It's not just a mental illness thing

This is such an odd line to see, since the rest of your post is a detailed description of the exact process by which a mind becomes unhealthy.

1

u/LebrontosaurausRex 12d ago

It's not.

People talk about things like schizophrenia as being PRIMARY genetic.

When in some it's more an switch that's on to enable the chance of conditions coming together to cause schizophrenia (the type with the dopamine dysregulation causing the brain to generate hallucinations/unreal stimuli in an effort to find a ruler to right itself against).

It's more that the pervasive trauma of homelessness can cause people with no previous history or mental illness to develop things similar to mental illness.

I'm maybe trying to put to much into too few words, but mental illnesses being "real" is its own form of debate.

I always find it easier to think of ALL mental illness as a spectrum that breaks down when trying to perfectly explain any one person.