In a surprising discovery, scientists from the University of California, Irvine, have found a brand-new reason why brain bleeds happen.
This finding goes against what many doctors and researchers used to believe. The study was published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation and may help us better understand brain diseases in older people.
The researchers found that aging red blood cells can cause tiny brain bleeds, called cerebral microbleeds, not because of broken blood vessels, but because of how these old blood cells interact with the small blood vessels in the brain. This is a big step forward in figuring out how certain brain problems start and how we might treat them in the future.
The study was led by Dr. Mark Fisher and Dr. Xiangmin Xu. They and their team designed a creative way to study the problem. First, they made red blood cells older and more stressed using a chemical called tert-butyl hydroperoxide.
Then, they added a glowing marker to these cells so they could track them easily. After that, they injected these labeled red blood cells into mice and closely watched what happened in the brain.
What they saw was very important. These aged red blood cells got stuck in the tiniest blood vessels of the brain, called capillaries. The brain’s immune cells, called microglia, tried to clean up the stuck red blood cells by swallowing them. But this cleanup process sometimes led to tiny bleeds in the brain.
This is a completely new idea. Until now, most scientists believed that brain bleeds were caused when blood vessels got damaged or broke. But this study shows that even if the blood vessels stay intact, just having aged red blood cells stuck in them can still cause bleeding.
This finding could help explain why certain health problems—like high blood pressure, Alzheimer’s disease, and stroke—are linked to brain bleeds in older people. Dr. Fisher said the results could have major importance for medicine.
If red blood cell damage plays a bigger role in brain health than we thought, then doctors may one day look at these cells when trying to prevent or treat brain diseases.
The research team now wants to learn more about how the brain clears out damaged red blood cells, and how this process might affect different types of strokes.
This study gives us new hope in the fight against stroke and brain injury. It helps us better understand how brain bleeds start, especially in older adults. This knowledge might lead to new treatments that prevent these bleeds before they happen.
If you’re concerned about stroke or brain health, you might also want to read about how many people with heart rhythm problems die from heart attacks or strokes, and about a new method that lowers stroke risk over five years.
Other studies have shown that the Mediterranean diet may help protect your brain and that wild blueberries can also be good for your heart and brain.
If you care about stroke, please read studies about how to eat to prevent stroke, and diets high in flavonoids could help reduce stroke risk.
For more health information, please see recent studies about how Mediterranean diet could protect your brain health, and wild blueberries can benefit your heart and brain.
The full study can be found in the Journal of Neuroinflammation.
Copyright © 2025 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
