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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.

The study, conducted by the University of Oulu and Oulu University Hospital, examined the effects of the treatment in healthy adults. The research was published in Nature Communications.

According to the researchers, the findings open up an entirely new avenue of research into harnessing the brain's clearance mechanisms for the early diagnosis, prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases that cause dementia.

"Alzheimer's disease and many other diseases that cause dementia are characterized by the gradual accumulation of harmful proteins in the brain over decades. Now that we can safely enhance the brain's own clearance system, which gradually becomes less effective with age, while people are still healthy, it may be possible in the future to prevent these diseases, or at least slow their progression," says Professor Vesa Kiviniemi, head of the Functional Neuroimaging Research Group at the University of Oulu, Finland.

Previous studies in mice have shown that temporarily lowering blood pressure can enhance the clearance of cerebrospinal fluid and the large molecules it contains from the brain. These findings provided the basis for a study combining blood pressure–lowering medication with Piezo1-targeted whole-body vibration stimulation.

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