With more people living into their eighties and beyond, we are seeing more incidences of neurological disorders. In order to treat these disorders, it is important that scientists and doctors understand the mechanisms that cause them. In a new study, researchers have found that traumatic brain injuries interfere with the brain’s ability to dispose of waste products which become toxic. As toxic proteins accumulate in the brain, it starts the process for neuro-degenerative diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s.
The researchers also found that trauma damaged the glymphatic system which cleans out damaged proteins that can aggregate and become toxic to the brain. Prior research has revealed that the glymphatic system is most active while sleeping, which helps explain why sleep recharges the brain. “In order to clear waste the glymphatic system must pump cerebral spinal fluid through the brain and research indicates that the system is very delicate and that small changes caused by even small trauma can cause it to lose function.
“The failure of the glymphatic system may be one of the reasons that the aging brain is so vulnerable to diseases like Alzheimer’s. The changes that we see in the aging brain are mirrored in the young brain after traumatic brain injury. This suggests that such events may be the common link to neuro-degeneration, between what happens in the elderly and what happens after brain trauma.”
Extracts above taken from a research published in the Journal of Neuroscience.