Blood pressure medication and vibration may boost brain waste clearance
The brain's own clearance mechanisms are most active during sleep. Researchers have now shown that this natural clearance process can also be enhanced while people are awake. A novel vasomechanical treatment increased the removal of harmful proteins from participants' brains.
A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Oulu and Oulu University Hospital has shown that blood pressure medication and vibration can potentially improve the brain's ability to clear harmful proteins. The research, published in Nature Communications, indicates that these treatments may help prevent or slow down neurodegenerative diseases that cause dementia.
The study examined the effects of combining blood pressure-lowering medication with whole-body vibration stimulation in 29 healthy adult volunteers. The results showed that the combination treatment led to increased levels of harmful proteins in the bloodstream, as well as alterations in brain fluid flow. This suggests that the treatment enhances the brain's own clearance mechanisms, which are most active during sleep but can also be boosted while people are awake.
The researchers found that the medication temporarily lowers blood pressure, leading to nitric oxide-mediated dilation of blood vessels and strengthening of slow brain pulsations that drive cerebrospinal fluid circulation. This effect closely resembled the physiological changes observed during sleep.
One of the study's lead researchers, Johanna Tuunanen, believes that these findings open up new avenues for research into harnessing the brain's clearance mechanisms for early diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. She emphasizes that removing proteins from the brain while they are still soluble could prevent the formation of solid deposits in tissue, which is currently virtually impossible.
While the study provides promising evidence of the treatment's potential benefits, the researchers caution that further investigations are needed to determine its effects on dementia risk or progression. The next step is to explore the treatment's potential benefits in patients with early-stage memory impairment, and the researchers plan to collaborate with leading experts in the field for follow-up studies.
Written by urgent.news from Medical Xpress's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
