Dena Farysah Mazli

Ms. Dena Farysah Mazli


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

1Year (2026-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

View All Publications
28 February 2026 in Life
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
DMDena Farysah Mazli
Dena Farysah Mazli
Zaw Myo HeinZaw Myo Hein
Zaw Myo Hein
CNChe Mohd Nasril Che Mohd Nassir
Che Mohd Nasril Che Mohd Nassir
AAAin Hafizah Alias
Ain Hafizah Alias
Sint Sint WinSint Sint Win
Sint Sint Win
GEGehan El-Akabawy
Gehan El-Akabawy
Cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) is a leading cause of stroke, cognitive impairment, and vascular dementia, yet disease-modifying therapeutic strategies remain limited. Emerging evidence suggests that sleep fragmentation (SF), a common and often under-recognized feature of aging and cardiometabolic disorders, plays a pivotal role in CSVD pathogenesis by disrupting the glymphatic system, the brain’s primary waste clearance pathway. Sleep-dependent glymphatic function facilitates the removal of neurotoxic metabolites and maintains neurovascular homeostasis. In contrast, SF impairs cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)–interstitial fluid (ISF) exchange, promotes perivascular space enlargement, endothelial dysfunction, blood–brain barrier (BBB) breakdown, and chronic neuroinflammation, hallmarks of CSVD. This review synthesizes current mechanistic, preclinical, and clinical evidence linking SF to glymphatic dysfunction and small vessel pathology, framing these interactions as a sleep–glymphatic–vascular continuum underlying CSVD progression and cognitive decline. We further explore the emerging therapeutic potential of tocotrienols (T3), vitamin E isoforms with potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and vasculoprotective properties, as modulators of neurovascular integrity within this continuum. Although direct evidence linking T3 to glymphatic regulation remains limited, converging data support their capacity to preserve endothelial function, attenuate oxidative stress, and stabilize astrocytic and BBB dynamics, mechanisms highly relevant to glymphatic and microvascular health. By integrating sleep biology, glymphatic neuroscience, and nutritional vascular protection, this review highlights hypothesis-generating preventive and therapeutic avenues for CSVD and delineates key knowledge gaps, including the need for longitudinal human studies, standardized glymphatic imaging, objective sleep phenotyping, and interventional trials to establish causal and translational relevance.