[HN Gopher] Fourth membrane is discovered in the brain ___________________________________________________________________ Fourth membrane is discovered in the brain Author : atombender Score : 89 points Date : 2023-01-06 19:28 UTC (3 hours ago) (HTM) web link (www.science.org) (TXT) w3m dump (www.science.org) | atombender wrote: | Here [1] is a New Scientist article about it. The tl;dr is: | | > A new anatomical structure has been discovered that is part of | the brain's waste disposal system. The tissue is a thin membrane | encasing the brain that keeps newly made cerebrospinal fluid - | which circulates inside the brain - separate from "dirty" fluid | containing cells' waste products. | | [1] https://www.newscientist.com/article/2353622-weve-just- | disco... | [deleted] | erk__ wrote: | A interesting factoid about this paper is that the first author | Kjeld Mollgard, is a 80 year old former rector of University of | Copenhagen. The Danish articles about that have been highlighting | that, and that he now have to change what he is teaching after 50 | years. | Eduard wrote: | "factoid" is an incorrect fact. | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factoid | marginalia_nu wrote: | From the first sentence in the article you're linking: | | [...] or a true but brief or trivial item of news or | information. | UniverseHacker wrote: | That link also mentions that it's used to refer to a brief or | trivial true fact. | hirenj wrote: | He's at my department at the Uni (well up until he retired), | and the crazy thing is he's been employed at the Uni for his | whole adult life, since starting as a student helper at around | 18. | Heechee wrote: | The text was a bit hard to understand, so I asked for ChatGPT's | help: | | I apologize if the information was difficult to understand. | Meninges are the layers of tissue that surround and protect the | brain and spinal cord. There are three main meningeal layers: the | dura mater, arachnoid mater, and pia mater. The dura mater is the | outermost layer and is tough and protective. The arachnoid mater | is the middle layer and is thin and web-like. The pia mater is | the innermost layer and is thin and closely adheres to the | surface of the brain and spinal cord. | | Mollgard et al. have discovered a fourth layer of meningeal | tissue, called the subarachnoid lymphatic-like membrane (SLYM), | that is located between the arachnoid mater and the pia mater. | SLYM is a barrier that separates the subarachnoid space (the | space between the arachnoid mater and the pia mater) into two | compartments and contains immune cells called myeloid cells. This | layer may be involved in immune surveillance in the cerebrospinal | fluid and in the exchange of small solutes between the | cerebrospinal fluid and venous blood. This discovery provides new | insights into the function of the meninges and the immune system | in the brain. Is there anything else I can help with? | SketchySeaBeast wrote: | Given that ChatGPT will lie with absolute conviction I don't | think we should make a habit of posting article summaries it | generates. | 2snakes wrote: | What were your "search terms" when asking ChatGPT? | lanstin wrote: | More proof of where on the path of a mechanistic explanation of | the brain, finding a whole new compartmentalization makes it seem | like "not that far." | | Biology always seems like the work of a mad hacker with no code | reviews for a billion years. | electrondood wrote: | Biology to me seems like the work of a billion years of | iterations in an evolutionary neural network. | | If the human body were a codebase, there's no way in hell it | would work so well if it were the product of any other process. | bitwize wrote: | > mad hacker | | You might even say they were "insane in the membrane". | | Thanks everyone, enjoy the veal! | NetOpWibby wrote: | INSANE IN THE BRAIN | gremlinsinc wrote: | [flagged] | nh23423fefe wrote: | Is this skepticism of the existence of a mechanistic | explanation or just commentary on progress? | [deleted] | [deleted] | bregma wrote: | Not sure how a membrane that surrounds the brain is part of a | mechanistic explanation of the brain (by which I assume you | mean the mind). This seems to serve more of a CSF (cerebro- | spinal fluid) filter function. | jchanimal wrote: | Maybe substitute "physicalistic" (as opposed to | computational) for "mechanistic". I think there is something | to the idea that physical layout could be tuned to use | various waves (electromagnetic, fluid pressure, etc) for | signaling. So it may not all be axons and dendrites, it might | also work like a big capacitor / resonator, transmitting | macro information through every worthwhile sidechannel. Who's | to say all those side-channels are known to current science? | eurasiantiger wrote: | For all we know, we could have an interited quantum- | coherent base pair linking us to all other living entities. | canadianfella wrote: | [dead] | [deleted] | unsupp0rted wrote: | > SLYM is immunophenotypically distinct from the other meningeal | layers in the human and mouse brain and represents a tight | barrier for solutes of more than 3 kilodaltons, effectively | subdividing the subarachnoid space into two different | compartments. SLYM is the host for a large population of myeloid | cells, the number of which increases in response to inflammation | and aging, so this layer represents an innate immune niche | ideally positioned to surveil the cerebrospinal fluid. | [deleted] | samstave wrote: | I learned a whole bunch of new words from you, thank you. | | may you please unpack this sentence, as I dont know exactly it | means: | | > _ideally positioned to surveil the cerebrospinal fluid._ | hirenj wrote: | The immune system needs to sample and test whatever is in the | cerebrospinal fluid so that it knows when to activate. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2023-01-06 23:00 UTC)