After providing all the funding for The Brain from Top to Bottom for over 10 years, the CIHR Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction informed us that because of budget cuts, they were going to be forced to stop sponsoring us as of March 31st, 2013.

We have approached a number of organizations, all of which have recognized the value of our work. But we have not managed to find the funding we need. We must therefore ask our readers for donations so that we can continue updating and adding new content to The Brain from Top to Bottom web site and blog.

Please, rest assured that we are doing our utmost to continue our mission of providing the general public with the best possible information about the brain and neuroscience in the original spirit of the Internet: the desire to share information free of charge and with no adverstising.

Whether your support is moral, financial, or both, thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Bruno Dubuc, Patrick Robert, Denis Paquet, and Al Daigen





Wednesday, 21 June 2023
Sophisticated cleaning systems in our brain

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The human brain continuously consumes 20 to 25% of all the energy used by the human body and therefore inevitably produces large amounts of potentially toxic wastes, estimated to roughly equal the brain’s own weight over the course of a year. To eliminate all of this waste, the brain uses its own waste-clearance system, called the glymphatic system to indicate that it uses glial cells to perform the same function in the brain that the lymphatic system performs in the rest of the body. Previously, scientists had long thought that the brain cleansed itself by passive diffusion of cerebrospinal fluid from its ventricles. But that would be a very slow process for an organ as active as the brain. (more…)

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