How Your Brain Cleans & Detoxifies Itself

There’s some exciting new research about core brain functions we have only recently learned about. As Eric Topol recently explained on Substack, the brain has its own cleaning and defense systems that operate continuously, and these systems become especially important as we age.

• The brain makes toxic waste products every day that need to be cleared away, like trash from a busy city.

• Special fluid-filled spaces and tiny channels help wash this waste out of the brain and into drainage pathways,  the glymphatic system.

• The flow of this cleaning fluid is affected by cardiac function, blood pressure, and sleep quality and certain heart rhythm problems such as atrial fibrillation, which can impede the cleaning process.

The Brain’s Immune Protection

• The brain is patrolled by an active immune system that constantly searches and inspects for problems like infection or neuronal damage. 

• Important immune cells live not only in the brain, but also in the skull and the meningeal membranes around it—the dura, pia, and arachnoid.  These layers act as a crucial interface for immune surveillance, housing myeloid and lymphoid cells that protect the central nervous system (CNS). Think of these cells as which act as an immune “reservoir” ready to respond quickly.  

• As people age or develop autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis, the way these immune cells behave and interact with brain tissue components can change.  This may raise the risk of problems.

Special Cells Called Astrocytes

Astrocytes are the most abundant, star-shaped glial cells in the central nervous system. They serve as critical homeostatic regulators.  Astrocytes maintain the blood–brain barrier (BBB), provide metabolic energy to neurons, manage electrolytes and neurotransmitters, regulate cerebral blood flow, and participate in neural repair and synaptic pruning. 

New Treatments Being Studied

• In China, surgeons are testing a procedure called lymphatic-venous anastomosis (LVA), which connects deep neck lymph vessels to neck veins to improve brain drainage in people with Alzheimer’s disease.

• Similar clinical trials for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are starting in the United States, but these surgeries are still experimental and not part of routine care.

Why This Matters

• Good sleep, healthy nutrition, and a healthy cardiovascular system support the brain’s natural cleaning and immune systems. These are especially important as we age.

• Scientists are rapidly updating what is known about how the aging brain handles waste and immune protection, which should lead to better ways to prevent or treat memory and brain problems in the future.