Researchers in the NeuroICU Research Lab led by Sylvain Doré, PhD, FAHA, collaborated with the UF Musicology and Ethnomusicology Program on a new article that explores the effects of sound and music on the brain.
The article, titled “Effects of Sound Interventions on the Permeability of the Blood–Brain Barrier and Meningeal Lymphatic Clearance,” was published June 5 in the journal Brain Sciences.
The article represents a team effort by undergraduate and graduate students that was initiated during the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides a detailed analysis of how music can affect the opening of the well-guarded blood-brain barrier and how it can activate the brain meningeal lymphatic system (also referred to as the glymphatic system) to potentially accelerate the elimination of toxic molecules that may have accumulated acutely after stroke or brain trauma or that may have accumulated over time, such as in Alzheimer’s disease.
“The conclusions are quite encouraging, but only a few different research groups have explored such possibilities,” said Doré, professor of anesthesiology, neurology, psychiatry, pharmaceutics, and neuroscience. “Clearly, the findings need to be replicated and independently validated by more investigators using comparable research designs to increase rigor. Finally, more effort, notably with human clinical trials using the latest and improved brain imaging scanning protocols, should be conducted to fully address such intriguing findings before we all return to concert halls or blast our latest sound systems.”