Published on: May 30, 2025
A new study published in Nature Biomedical Engineering highlights a breakthrough device that monitors the brain’s waste-removal system and may offer new ways to prevent Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases.
In the study, participants wore a head cap equipped with embedded electrodes while they slept. This device measured shifts in brain fluid, changes in neural activity from sleep to wakefulness, and fluctuations in blood vessels. By tracking these three indicators, researchers were able to observe the activity of the brain’s glymphatic system — the network responsible for clearing waste and delivering nutrients.
This marks the first time scientists have successfully monitored glymphatic fluid flow in real-time across different stages of sleep throughout a full night. Previously, such activity could only be measured using MRI technology in research centers, which lacks the resolution to detect subtle, moment-to-moment changes in sleep states.
We previously assumed the glymphatic system functioned in a simple ‘on-off’ manner — active during sleep, particularly deep sleep, and inactive when awake, explained study coauthor Dr. Jeffrey Iliff, professor of psychiatry and neurology at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
These assumptions were based on earlier rodent studies. But when applied to humans, the findings told a different story.
The researchers discovered that the glymphatic system remains active not just during deep (slow-wave) sleep, but also during REM sleep and even the transition to wakefulness. Rather than operating like a switch, the system appeared to increase its activity the longer a person slept, gradually slowing down as they awoke, Iliff noted.
This technology allows us to explore how the glymphatic system responds to sleep and sleep disruption in humans — a crucial step in understanding its role in psychiatric and neurological disorders, Iliff said.
The glymphatic system is essential for clearing proteins from the brain that are linked to diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. “This represents a key advancement in the development of therapies that target glymphatic function,” Iliff said. “Enhancing this system could potentially help prevent or treat conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.”
The wearable monitoring device was developed by California-based company Applied Cognition. According to Iliff, it holds multiple possibilities: helping to determine whether glymphatic dysfunction contributes to disorders like Alzheimer’s, traumatic brain injury, or migraines; supporting the development of drugs that enhance waste clearance; and identifying individuals most at risk who might benefit from such interventions.
The research was conducted between October 2022 and June 2023 at the University of Washington Medical Center – Montlake and the University of Florida. It involved 35 participants in a benchmarking study in Florida and 14 more in a replication study in Seattle, all aged between 56 and 66.
Swati Rane Levendovszky, formerly director of UW Medicine’s Diagnostic Imaging Sciences Center and now at the University of Kansas Medical Center, also contributed to the project.
This work is pivotal in understanding how glymphatic dysfunction contributes to Alzheimer’s and in identifying treatments to reverse it, said Dr. Paul Dagum, CEO of Applied Cognition. “Our platform has already pinpointed a promising drug candidate that enhances glymphatic clearance in early-stage clinical trials.
Iliff’s lab continues to study the glymphatic system and its role in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and traumatic brain injury.
Source: https://depts.washington.edu/mbwc/news/article/glymphatic-device
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