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In 2015, a study suggested that the lymphatic system in mice brains plays an important role in draining macromolecules from the brain, particularly during sleep (NEJM JW Gen Med Aug 15 2015 and Nature 2015; 523:337). Whether the same was true in humans, and whether it affected human health, was unclear. Since then, researchers have established that humans also have lymphatics in the meninges that drain interstitial fluid from the brain parenchyma.
To see if these lymphatics might affect health, investigators developed methods either to impair or to augment lymphatic drainage in mouse brains. They found that lymphatic drainage worsened with aging. Experimentally induced impairment of drainage led to impairment of cognition. In contrast, exper…