High levels of sodium in cerebrospinal fluid can cause migraine

Migraine sufferers have significantly higher sodium concentrations in their cerebrospinal fluid than people without the condition, according to the first study to use a technique called sodium MRI to look at migraine patients. Migraine is a a type of headache characterized by severe head pain, and sometimes nausea and vomiting, is one of the most common headache disorders. Some migraines are accompanied by vision changes or odd sensations in the body known as auras. Diagnosis is challenging as the characteristics of migraines and the types of attacks vary widely among
patients.

Consequently, many migraine patients are undiagnosed and untreated. Other patients, in contrast, are treated with medications for migraines even though they suffer from a different type of headache, such as the more common tension variety.  Researchers explored a magnetic resonance technique called cerebral sodium MRI as a possible means to help in the diagnosis and understanding of migraines. While MRI most often relies on protons to generate an image, sodium can be visualized as well. Research has shown that sodium plays an important role in brain chemistry.

The researchers recruited different women, mean age 34, who had been clinically evaluated for migraine. The women filled out a questionnaire regarding the length, intensity and frequency of their migraine attacks and accompanying auras. The researchers also brought in healthy women of similar ages to serve as a control group. Both groups underwent cerebral sodium MRI. Sodium concentrations of migraine patients and healthy controls were compared and statistically analyzed.

The researchers found no statistical differences between the two groups for sodium concentrations in the gray and white matter, brain stem and cerebellum. However, significant differences emerged when the researchers looked at sodium concentrations in the cerebrospinal fluid, the fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord, providing a cushion for the brain while also helping to ensure chemical stability for proper brain function. Sodium concentrations were significantly higher in the brain's cerebrospinal fluid in migraine patients than in the healthy control group.
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Brain cells control aging

Scientists have discovered that stem cells in the brain's hypothalamus control how fast aging occurs in the body. This discovery could lead to new method of preventing diseases and increasing lifespan.

The hypothalamus regulates growth, development, reproduction, metabolism and aging. The number of hypothalamic neural stem cells naturally declines and this accelerates aging.
Replenishing stem cells can slow down the process of aging but the loss are not irreversible.

Researchers disrupted the hypothalamic stem cells in middle-aged mice and discovered that disruption accelerated aging. They injected hypothalamic stem cells into the brains of middle-aged mice whose stem cells had been destroyed as well as into the brains of normal old mice.

The treatment showed different measures of aging in both groups. Hypothalamic stem cells exert their anti-aging effects by releasing microRNAs (miRNAs).

The researchers extracted miRNA-containing exosomes from hypothalamic stem cells and injected them into the cerebrospinal fluid of middle-aged mice whose hypothalamic stem cells had been destroyed and normal middle-aged mice.

This treatment slowed aging in both groups of animals as measured by tissue analysis and behavioral testing that involved assessing changes in the animals' muscle endurance, coordination, social behavior and cognitive ability.
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Presence of Zika virus in cerebrospinal fluid

According to latest study, Zika virus can remain in cerebrospinal fluid, lymph nodes and colorectal tissue of infected rhesus monkeys for many weeks after clearing the virus.

Scientists infected 20 rhesus monkeys with Zika virus and cleared it within 7-10 days, the virus was present in their body fluids for more than 40 days.

The virus can remain in colorectal tissue for more than 70 days, immunologic data explained how Zika virus neutralizing antibodies related to the rapid control of the virus in plasma.

Viral regular presence in cerebrospinal fluid is related with the activation of the mechanistic target of rapamycin pathway, which can cause brain malformation.

Zika virus caused neurological deformation in children and adults, the presence of the virus at the central nervous system in human can cause other chronic diseases in future.