[HN Gopher] Nasopharyngeal Lymphatics Found to Be Crucial for Ce...
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Nasopharyngeal Lymphatics Found to Be Crucial for Cerebrospinal
Fluid Outflow
Author : gmays
Score : 28 points
Date : 2024-02-01 19:17 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.ibs.re.kr)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.ibs.re.kr)
| wwwtyro wrote:
| > We aim to investigate in a reliable animal model whether
| activating the cervical lymphatic vessels through pharmacological
| or mechanical means can prevent the exacerbation of Alzheimer's
| disease progression by improving CSF clearance.
|
| Any speculation on what those mechanical means might be?
| pfdietz wrote:
| Ultrasound?
| jareklupinski wrote:
| sounds like
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manual_lymphatic_drainage
|
| it feels great when you're sick, but in an ideal state, you
| should not need to do this as your system should be able to
| self-drain
| mnw21cam wrote:
| It also forms a large part of the Perrin Technique which aims
| to treat chronic fatigue syndrome (AKA CFS/ME).
|
| https://me-pedia.org/wiki/The_Perrin_Technique
| moh_maya wrote:
| In mice;
|
| and there are some anatomical differences between mice and
| humans..
|
| So its open at this point whether it is relevant directly to
| humans.
|
| IIRC, mice do not get Alzheimer's, for instance. There are mouse
| models (genetically engineered)that exhibit some of the
| physiological symptoms of Alzheimer's; but mice make particularly
| poor models for human neurology [1]- so this reach for using
| these essentially biomechanical structures to identify parallels
| and try to target a cure for neuro-degerative disorders in
| humans: seems more like a grant application attempt. I do wish
| press releases were a little more circumspect about such claims.
|
| [1] https://www.statnews.com/2019/04/16/trouble-mice-
| behavioral-...
| NeuroCoder wrote:
| They do say they plan to verify findings in primates as well so
| perhaps the accomplishment here is more concerning the
| methodology. So there me be some greater merit to this work
| going forward.
|
| I think it would be more interesting for this kind of study to
| verify these measures that can only be obtained in animals with
| neuroimaging. There have been some interesting attempts to move
| monitor aspects of CSF flow through MRI but we need to make
| sure we are measuring what we think we are before using in the
| clinic
| abracadaniel wrote:
| Fascinating. Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but I immediately have
| questions about whether sleep quality links with
| neurodegenerative disease are instead a symptom of sleep apnea
| via reduced lymphatic stimulation and not sleep itself. Could
| diet impact it, not by the composition of the food, but by
| consistency and how much chewing is involved. Could chewing gum
| make a difference? Neck exercises? I wonder if there is a
| correlation with people who mouth breathe or clench their teeth
| at night.
| zoklet-enjoyer wrote:
| "The study also demonstrated that pharmacological activation of
| the deep cervical lymphatics enhanced CSF drainage in mice. The
| researchers were able to successfully modulate cervical
| lymphatics using phenylephrine (which activates a1-adrenergic
| receptors, causing smooth-muscle contraction) or sodium
| nitroprusside (which releases nitric oxide, inducing muscle
| relaxation and vessel dilation). Importantly, this feature was
| preserved during aging, even when the nasopharyngeal lymphatic
| plexus had shrunk and was functionally impaired."
|
| Hit up the porn shop and get some poppers for brain health?
| YeGoblynQueenne wrote:
| Oh. I thought this was posted for its title, reminiscent of the
| best of grindcore and death metal bands.
| ngneer wrote:
| Can you imagine a health news (HN) forum randomly posting links
| about computer science, software engineering and related topics?
| ipaddr wrote:
| Hackers also include biohackers. Health news, science news,
| space news all might not seem like they fit but they do.
|
| Seeing articles on how to apply makeup would be shocking
| oh_sigh wrote:
| The hacker mindset that pg had in mind when naming the site
| isn't restricted to tech.
| Leyledorp wrote:
| Does this mean my tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy surgery might
| increase my risk of alzheimer's? Maybe I'll just swallow more to
| compensate.
| jbandela1 wrote:
| > We aim to investigate in a reliable animal model whether
| activating the cervical lymphatic vessels through pharmacological
| or mechanical means can prevent the exacerbation of Alzheimer's
| disease progression by improving CSF clearance.
|
| While this is interesting, I don't think it will make much of a
| difference clinically.
|
| The reason is that cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) circulation and
| drainage is something that doctors, especially neurologists and
| neurosurgeons, are very keenly aware of, and we have ways of
| treating issues where the CSF is not being absorbed.
|
| As the article mentions, you produce around 500ml of CSF daily.
| If you do not drain the CSF, you will die fairly quickly as the
| pressure inside your head builds up. This can happen due to a
| tumor or from blood, and when this happens it is an emergency.
|
| The emergency treatment consists of drilling a small hole in the
| skull, and putting a small tube into the fluid filled space of
| the brain called a ventricle which allows the fluid to drain.
| This is called an external ventricular drain (EVD). You can do it
| at bedside with an awake patient, lidocaine, and a hand powered
| drill. I have probably placed dozens if not hundreds of EVDs.
|
| Many times the blockage will clear with time (for example the
| blood reabsorbs) or with treatment (you take out the tumor or
| drain the blood clot) and then you can remove the drain. Other
| times, the patient will need it long term. You then place what is
| called a ventriculoperitonal shunt (VP Shunt). There the tube
| still goes into the brain, but instead of it coming out, it is
| tunneled under the skin to the abdomen, and the fluid is allowed
| to drain into the abdomen. Everything is under the skin, so the
| patient can go about their normal life.
|
| This inability to drain, can also be less dramatic. There is a
| condition called "Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus" which happens
| gradually. You often see it in older adults, and it can present
| as mental slowing. If a CT Scan and MRI of the brain show
| evidence of this, without any signs of tumor or blood, you can do
| what is called a therapeutic lumbar puncture (spinal tap). What
| you do is you insert a large needle into the fluid around the
| base of the spinal cord, and measure the pressure and drain some
| of the fluid. Then you let the patient go home and see how they
| do. If they improve, then you can place a VP Shunt (as described
| above) so that the fluid is continuously draining instead of
| requiring them to come in and have a spinal tap all the time.
|
| So, while the circulation and absorption of cerebrospinal fluid
| is very important, I am not sure how much these lymphatics
| translate from mice to humans, and it is not like doctors are not
| aware of and don't have treatments for too much cerebrospinal
| fluid. If progression in Alzheimer's disease was just a matter of
| draining cerebrospinal fluid, we can already do that today.
|
| Source: I was a neurosurgery resident.
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