{"id":102317,"date":"2026-07-29T00:42:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T00:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/102317\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T00:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T00:42:08","slug":"south-korean-scientists-solve-250-year-old-dementia-linked-brain-mystery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/102317\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korean scientists solve 250-year-old dementia-linked brain mystery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers in <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/south-korea?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">South Korea<\/a> say they have finally worked out how the brain flushes away waste \u2013 offering a clearer picture of the processes involved in dementia and other brain disorders that could one day be harnessed to treat them.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The breakthrough, published this month in journal Cell, solved a puzzle that has stumped scientists since lymphatic vessels around the brain were first discovered roughly 250 years ago: how does our body clear away the waste?<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">An international team led by Dr Koh Gou-young, a scientist at the Centre for Vascular Research within South Korea\u2019s Institute for Basic Science, identified tiny openings in the tough membrane protecting the brain \u2013 dubbed arachnoid fenestrations \u2013 through which fluid drains into vessels around the nose and eyes before reaching lymph nodes in the neck.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The human brain constantly produces metabolic waste, which needs to be cleared away by cerebrospinal fluid: the clear, watery liquid that acts as a natural shock absorber and nutrient bath for the brain and spinal cord.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A doctor inspects a brain scan for signs of possible disease. Dementia is characterised by a build-up of toxic brain waste. Photo: Getty Images\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/b6bb0393-24bf-423e-a60d-ca0b17abc567_0032402e.jpg\" title=\"A doctor inspects a brain scan for signs of possible disease. Dementia is characterised by a build-up of toxic brain waste. Photo: Getty Images\"\/>A doctor inspects a brain scan for signs of possible disease. Dementia is characterised by a build-up of toxic brain waste. Photo: Getty Images<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">When this system slows down, toxic proteins such as amyloid beta \u2013 a hallmark of Alzheimer\u2019s disease \u2013 can build up, raising the risk of dementia and other neurodegenerative disorders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Researchers in South Korea say they have finally worked out how the brain flushes away waste \u2013 offering&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7876,52992,38825,134,7875,52991,52994,31,3570,33,52995,52993],"class_list":["post-102317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-south-korea","tag-alzheimers-disease","tag-arachnoid-fenestrations","tag-cell","tag-china","tag-dementia","tag-dr-koh-gou-young","tag-institute-for-basic-science","tag-korea","tag-nature","tag-south-korea","tag-this-week-in-asia","tag-vegf-c"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}