Professor University of Iowa Iowa City, Iowa, United States
Sleep enhances the glymphatic system, a waste-clearance system in the brain that removes metabolic waste and maintains brain health. Traumatic brain injury often leads to poor sleep and disruption of the glymphatic system, leading to the buildup of harmful substances linked to neurological issues. Impaired glymphatic function may worsen symptoms of post-traumatic headache by reducing the clearance of inflammatory molecules and potentially CGRP and other molecules associated with migraine. Understanding the relationship between sleep, glymphatics, and CGRP may open new avenues for therapeutic strategies to alleviate post-traumatic headache.
Learning Objectives:
To explain that a positive feature of sleep is increased flow of CSF through the brain via the glymphatic system.
To describe that traumatic brain injury (TBI) reduces glymphatic flow, which would reduce clearance of CGRP from the brain.
To describe that an inhibitor of adrenergic signaling (prazosin) is able to improve glymphatic flow & reduce a post-TBI symptom (touch sensitivity) in mice.
