The ‘glymphatic’ system, which has recently been identified using MRI, is a brain-wide pathway for removal of waste solutes. This system is implicated in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), due to discovery that both amyloid-β and tau, accumulations that define AD, are cleared from the brain via this pathway. Using contrast-enhanced MRI, we demonstrate that glymphatic function is dependent upon aquaporin-4, a water channel located on astrocytic endfeet surrounding blood vessels in the brain. Herein, using a novel pharmacological approach, we show that aquaporin-4 represents a suitable drug target for manipulation of glymphatic function in the brain, and in treatment of AD.
This abstract and the presentation materials are available to members only; a login is required.