Tweet
Sleep is profoundly restorative for the brain, partly because it clears solutes and waste products.
This flushing works best during the deepest periods of sleep, but why is that? Data from the lab of Laura Lewis, Boston University, suggest that during stretches of slow-wave, non-REM sleep, periodic waves of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) wash through the brain.
Interestingly, the timing of these waves corresponds with the slow neuronal oscillations that define this stage of sleep, and with accompanying fluctuations in blood-oxygen level. The results suggest that electrophysiological waves drive slow pulses of CSF, and that this coupling is mediated by changes in blood volume.
“This is an exciting study,” said Henrik Zetterberg, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, who was not involved in the project. “It shows quite convincingly that a change in neuronal activity precedes the change in fluid movement in the brain in deep sleep,” he said.
(...washed out by snipsnap...)
This flushing works best during the deepest periods of sleep, but why is that? Data from the lab of Laura Lewis, Boston University, suggest that during stretches of slow-wave, non-REM sleep, periodic waves of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) wash through the brain.
Interestingly, the timing of these waves corresponds with the slow neuronal oscillations that define this stage of sleep, and with accompanying fluctuations in blood-oxygen level. The results suggest that electrophysiological waves drive slow pulses of CSF, and that this coupling is mediated by changes in blood volume.
“This is an exciting study,” said Henrik Zetterberg, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, who was not involved in the project. “It shows quite convincingly that a change in neuronal activity precedes the change in fluid movement in the brain in deep sleep,” he said.
(...washed out by snipsnap...)
Precious body fluids
Comment