Sleep Drives Metabolite Clearance from the Adult Brain

Overview

Journal Science

Specialty Science

Date 2013 Oct 19

PMID 24136970

Citations 1993

Authors

Lulu Xie

Hongyi Kang

Qiwu Xu

Michael J Chen

Yonghong Liao

Meenakshisundaram Thiyagarajan

John ODonnell

Daniel J Christensen

Charles Nicholson

Jeffrey J Iliff

Takahiro Takano

Rashid Deane

Maiken Nedergaard

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The conservation of sleep across all animal species suggests that sleep serves a vital function. We here report that sleep has a critical function in ensuring metabolic homeostasis. Using real-time assessments of tetramethylammonium diffusion and two-photon imaging in live mice, we show that natural sleep or anesthesia are associated with a 60% increase in the interstitial space, resulting in a striking increase in convective exchange of cerebrospinal fluid with interstitial fluid. In turn, convective fluxes of interstitial fluid increased the rate of β-amyloid clearance during sleep. Thus, the restorative function of sleep may be a consequence of the enhanced removal of potentially neurotoxic waste products that accumulate in the awake central nervous system.

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