New research has discover just the opposite of what has been accepted as fact and taught from textbooks for decades – the brain and the immune system are directly linked. This recent discovery provides an entirely new research perspective and will change the way research is conducted on diseases like autism and multiple sclerosis.
The discovery of the link between the brain and immune system was made by Antoine Louveau at the University of Virginia Department of Neuroscience. During research of the brain tissue taken from lab mice, Louveau noticed vessel-like patterns in a slide of immune cells he was examining. When he tested for lymphatic vessels, which were not supposed to be there according to the medical textbooks, he found them.
Professor Jonathan Kipnis or the Virginia Department of Neuroscience states the vessels have escaped detection all this time by being very well hidden. The lymphatic vessels follow a blood vessel into the sinus cavity where they are difficult to image.
The new discovery opens up doors for new research to find out the exact connective link between the brain and immune system and hopefully discover new and better treatments for diseases that impact brain function.
Thanks to Dr. Daniel Amen for showing me this.