5-27-10

Tiny blood vessels in the brains of mice have a novel way of dealing with clots — they pack them up and shove them out, right through the vessel wall. This never-before-seen clearance maneuver, reported May 27 in //Nature//, gets blood flowing again and prevents cell death in nearby brain tissue. The new study also found that as mice age, their ability to evict clots deteriorates. Unchecked blockages in small vessels can cause tiny areas of damage to the brain, a process that may be related to the onset of age-related dementia. Researchers suspect the same kind of clot clearance might happen in humans. “Our vessels are being cleared up on a minute-by-minute basis, which is a great new finding and very exciting,” comments neurologist Costantino Iadecola of the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, who was not involved in the study.