The U.S. Department of Defense is funding the first human trial of a device to speed up and enhance the natural system of brain cleansing that occurs when we sleep.
The trial will be conducted among 90 people at three trial sites – University of Washington School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, and a collaboration between Oregon Health & Science University and the Brain Electrophysiology Laboratory. Results are expected in spring.
Recent discoveries point to the importance of quality sleep for clearance of brain metabolic waste through the newly discovered brain glymphatic system.
Co-principal investigator Jeffrey Iliff, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and neurology at the University of Washington School of Medicine, made the discovery of the glymphatic system with Maiken Nedergaard, a Danish neuroscientist.
Iliff said the biology is straightforward. Cerebral spinal fluid surrounds the brain, and as we sleep, fluid washes through brain cells and supports clearance of difference wastes.
Scientists think this glymphatic function is at the heart of the restorative power of sleep. Scientists think sleep problems disrupt the glymphatic system, thereby impairing cognition and potentially affecting long-term brain health.
“Improving glymphatic function, whether pharmacologically or by means of a device, could improve the cognitive effects of acute sleep deprivation and chronic sleep restriction,” said Iliff. “Our lab’s research over the past eight years on brain-waste clearance in animals has helped define glymphatic biology. Now we hope to see if we can use what we’ve learned to help people overcome poor or interrupted sleep and the brain dysfunction that follows.”
The scientists leading this effort are from the UW School of Medicine, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Medicine, the Brain Electrophysiology Lab, Oregon Health & Science University, and Montana State University.
The Department of Defense is funding this three-year, $4.3-million project, with the ultimate goal of helping service members overcome acute sleep deprivation and chronic sleep restriction.
“If this works, it would have major implications for service members and potentially anyone with diagnosed sleep dysfunction. It could also have implications for people with other neurological conditions, such as traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer’s disease, and other dementias,” said co-principal investigator Dawn Kernagis, assistant professor of neurosurgery at UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine
This project, titled “Augmented Neurophysiology of Sleep and Performance Readiness,” is part of the Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium, a collaboration between industry and academia to facilitate research and development activities, in cooperation with the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command and other Department of Defense agencies in the biomedical sciences to protect, treat, and optimize the health and performance of military personnel.
