Discovery Could Block Aging’s Toll On The Mind

Aging vessels connecting the brain and immune system play key roles in Alzheimer’s disease and decline in cognitive ability that come with the process of aging over time. Improving function of lymphatic vessels has enhanced aged mice’s ability to learn and improved their memories; work which may provide doctor a new path to treat and even possible prevent Alzheimer’s disease, age related memory loss and other neurodegenerative diseases.

The lymphatic vessels are essential to the brain’s ability to cleanse itself, this new work gives a more complete picture to the role of these vessels and importance for brain function and healthy aging.  The researchers used a compound to improve flow of waste from the brain to the lymph nodes in the neck of aged mice, vessels became increased in size and rained better which had direct effect on the animal’s ability to learn and remember, enabling them to observe enhanced cognitive ability in an old mouse by targeting lymphatic vasculature around the brain.

Vessels obstruction was determined to worsen the accumulation of harmful amyloid plaques in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease, which may help to explain plaque buildup in patients as the cause of which is not fully understood. 98% of human Alzheimer’s cases are not familial making it a matter of what is affected by aging to give rise to disease.

Vessels impairing was noted to have had an interesting consequence, with worsening pathology it looked similar to what was seen in human samples in terms of aggregation of amyloid protein in the brain and meninges, meaning impairing model mice lymphatic function made it more similar to human pathology.

Researchers are now working towards developing a drug to improve lymphatic vessel performance in humans, noting that it is important to develop a method to determine how well the meningeal lymphatic vasculature works in humans.

According to the researchers the best way to treat Alzheimer’s may be combination of vasculature repair along with other approaches; improving flow through meningeal lymphatic vessels may overcome obstacles halting promising treatments. The new discovery may offer up a way to stave off onset of the disease to the point where treatment is not necessary or to delay it beyond the length of the current lifespan.

Collaborative nature of this work was noted stating the importance of many different areas of expertise as yet another exemplification of how today research can’t be done in one place and in one lab, as well as the benefits of working together.