by Tanja Jensen
The news that the lymphatic vessels reach into the brain (right) will likely rewrite text books. Image credit: University of Virginia Health System
Scientists found vessels directly linking the brain with the immune system. Jonathan Kipnis and his team at University of Virginia found that the vessels actually exist – despite the common belief that the brain lacks a lymphatic system, that is, a drainage system for fluid and immune cells typical for the rest of the body. As such, the team´s finding may turn out to open up for new research areas and change existing ones, and thereby answer how the immune system attacks the brain.
The immune response of neurological disorders, like multiple sclerosis (MS) or perhaps Alzheimer´s, is poorly understood. That the immune system somehow attacks the brain in MS is known. However, in Alzheimer´s chunks of proteins pile up in the brain, the scientists suggest, perhaps because the vessels fail to drain them out.
Immune cells exit and enter the central nervous system, that is, the brain and spinal cord, non-stop. In search for how a certain type of immune cells, the T-cells, move into and out of the central nervous system in mice, the team of researchers by chance came across the well-hidden lymphatic vessels.
The team studied the membranes covering the brain, the meninges, and noticed the pattern of lymphatic vessels in the microscope. To find out if the pattern indeed was caused by lymphatic vessels, they tested for it, in action in live mice, by imaging.
The linking vessels are a game changer in the world of science. And the finding, published in Nature, sheds new light on the cause of certain brain disorders linked to the immune system attacking the brain. Although the reasons for neurological disorders, like MS and Alzheimer´s, are poorly understood, it´s likely that the vessels might play a role. This opens up for new opportunities to study the diseases plaguing the brain.
Find images and information about the research team here.
Beautiful Brain 