[HN Gopher] Cleaning up the aging brain: Scientists restore brai...
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       Cleaning up the aging brain: Scientists restore brain's trash
       disposal system
        
       Author : jdmark
       Score  : 52 points
       Date   : 2024-08-15 20:31 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.sciencedaily.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.sciencedaily.com)
        
       | hyrix wrote:
       | _In mice_
        
         | alephnerd wrote:
         | Mice are in the same clade as primates, and share around 95-99%
         | of the same genome as primates.
         | 
         | We're all part of the Euarchontoglires clade
        
           | cyberax wrote:
           | The problem is that primates are pretty far removed from
           | mice. And our sheer weight difference often makes is a
           | decisive factor.
           | 
           | This is especially true for cancer, brain, and inflammation
           | research. Mice just don't make good models for that.
        
             | alephnerd wrote:
             | > that primates are pretty far removed from mice
             | 
             | They are a good initial test for viability because of the
             | overwhelming genetic similarity.
             | 
             | This is why mice and rodents are used to test initial
             | viability before then moving on to theraputics development.
             | 
             | You can read some sources if you want [0][1][2]
             | 
             | [0] - https://www.jax.org/why-the-mouse/excellent-models
             | 
             | [1] - https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/research-at-
             | cambridge/animal-...
             | 
             | [2] - https://www.genome.gov/10001345/importance-of-mouse-
             | genome
        
               | cyberax wrote:
               | > This is why mice and rodents are used to test initial
               | viability before then moving on to theraputics
               | development.
               | 
               | They are used because they're the _only_ way to test
               | drugs early in development. Animal cruelty laws make it
               | nearly impossible to use non-murine species for initial
               | drug tests.
               | 
               | Additionally, mice are easy to breed and to keep, and
               | there's a great variety of specialized genetic lines.
        
           | hombre_fatal wrote:
           | Yet none of that matters because only a tiny fraction of
           | interventions make it from rat models to humans.
        
       | manmal wrote:
       | This mechanism sounds like it could have a strong nootropic
       | effect for everyone not having totally ideal sleep. Whenever I
       | sleep badly, or not long enough for some days in a row, my
       | cognitive performance deteriorates rather quickly. Supposedly,
       | the glymphatic system's work has a major role to play in this.
       | 
       | Melatonin also has been found to have a stimulating effect on the
       | glymphatic system, though we need better trials on that.
        
       | ggm wrote:
       | Are there non drug methods which could restore or assist lymph
       | pumping functions in the head-neck region? Should we all be doing
       | some kind of rotation/lift/squeeze cycle on our cervical spine
       | region?
        
         | OutOfHere wrote:
         | Nafaik, but anything that gives you two extra hours of sleep
         | should help. Also, intense exercise should over time help heal
         | it in part. And as far as drug methods go, a 2-3 month course
         | of memantine could be worth exploring for anyone who doesn't
         | have to drive or operate machinery.
        
         | thordenmark wrote:
         | Exercise, good food, and good sleep. Pretty much the universal
         | panacea.
        
           | thordenmark wrote:
           | Sounds easy, but difficult in practice. Especially for those
           | of us chained to a desk all day.
        
           | hi-v-rocknroll wrote:
           | For disabled and elderly people, these aren't always
           | possible.
        
       | DoreenMichele wrote:
       | _" Unlike the cardiovascular system which has one big pump, the
       | heart, fluid in the lymphatic system is instead transported by a
       | network of tiny pumps,"_
       | 
       | Not entirely accurate.
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25427090
        
       | pedalpete wrote:
       | This study in aging adults measured amyloid in blood with phase-
       | targeted auditory stimulation, the technology we've been
       | developing at affectablesleep.com - it's not exactly the same as
       | measuring the glymphatic process, but might be related.
        
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       (page generated 2024-08-15 23:00 UTC)