image: Distribution of astrocytes and aquaporin channels in rat brain sections. view more
Credit: Nygaard Mortensen et al., <em>JNeurosci</em> 2019
High blood pressure may affect conditions such as Alzheimer's disease by interfering with the brain's waste management system, according to new research in rats published in JNeurosci. Maintaining blood vessel health could therefore help stave off cognitive decline.
Hypertension causes stiffening and elasticity loss in blood vessels, which hinders clearance of waste molecules from the brain. Using a rat model of hypertension, Maiken Negergaard and colleagues at the University of Copenhagen and Yale School of Medicine studied how the condition affects the movement of cerebrospinal fluid into and interstitial fluid out of brain cells.
The researchers tracked the flow of cerebrospinal fluid and found that the hypertensive rats exhibited larger ventricles, decreased brain volume, and impaired fluid transport. They concluded that hypertension interferes with the clearance of macromolecules from the brain, such as the Alzheimer's pathology protein β-amyloid. Treatments targeting hypertension could in turn reduce β-amyloid buildup and delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease.
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Manuscript title: Impaired Glymphatic Transport in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats
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About JNeurosci
JNeurosci, the Society for Neuroscience's first journal, was launched in 1981 as a means to communicate the findings of the highest quality neuroscience research to the growing field. Today, the journal remains committed to publishing cutting-edge neuroscience that will have an immediate and lasting scientific impact, while responding to authors' changing publishing needs, representing breadth of the field and diversity in authorship.
About The Society for Neuroscience
The Society for Neuroscience is the world's largest organization of scientists and physicians devoted to understanding the brain and nervous system. The nonprofit organization, founded in 1969, now has nearly 37,000 members in more than 90 countries and over 130 chapters worldwide.