Good Article - Lymphatic Vessels Extend Into Brain

Great find, K07!! No wonder detoxing pulled me out of late stage dementia symptoms! "

"In hindsight, she says, the system should have been noticed long ago. When the skull and head are dissected, the vessels are visible to the naked eye. But no one bothered to really look: “Usually the brain is seen only as a bunch of nerve cells. We have come to think of the brain as a computer. And it’s not. It’s a living organ.”"

"In January, Belgian and Swiss researchers identified a rich network of glymphatic vessels within the optic nerve. The scientists also found that when these vessels malfunction, they seem to leave behind deposits of amyloid beta as well as other neurotoxins that damage the optic nerve.

And in March, Harvard University researchers reported that glymphatic flow is significantly decreased in the period just before a migraine. The intense pain in these headaches is caused largely by inflamed nerves in the tissue that surrounds the brain. Neuroscientists Rami Burstein and Aaron Schain, the lead authors, theorize that faulty clearance of molecular waste from the brain could trigger inflammation in these pain fibers.

One key to glymphatic performance seems to be sleep. Nedergaard has shown that at least in mice, the system processes twice as much fluid during sleep as it does during wakefulness. She and her colleagues focused on amyloid beta; they found that the lymphatic system removed much more of the protein when the animals were asleep than when they were awake. She suggests that over time, sleep dysfunction may contribute to Alzheimer’s and perhaps other brain illnesses. “You only clean your brain when you’re sleeping,” she says. “This is probably an important reason that we sleep. You need time off from consciousness to do the housekeeping.”"

"Sleep is probably not the only way to improve glymphatic flow. For instance, a paper published in January by Chinese researchers reported that in mice, omega-3 fatty acidsimproved glymphatic functioning.

Benveniste is examining dexmedetomidine, an anesthetic that may have the ability to improve glymphatic flow. And in a small human study, other scientists have found that deep breathing significantly increases the glymphatic transport of cerebrospinal fluid into the brain."

They were making assumptions that they knew all they needed to know already.... sound familiar? (IDSA with Lyme!!!!) I would fire ANY scientist that thought that way!!! If we assume we know all"u we need to know, we will never look for anything new!

Yes, red root is significant for many of us, I believe. I know that after using Gingko biloba for a couple of months that I was "suddenly" starting to think of more complex words, instead of only being able to use the "more simple" words to describe things, and I was able to get further into any researching I was doing as well. From there, my memory started doing much better (although it could still use some help), now I'm the one with the better memory in the house (as long as I'm not stressed or tired anyway).

Buhner also lists other herbs that can be helpful to rebuild neuronal structures in his "Healing Lyme, 2nd edition".

Great article!

-p