2023-08-30 08:04:00
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Those who close their eyes late at night are usually tired the next day. Getting back to bed early is all the more tempting. A research team from Washington State University (WSU) has now managed to keep laboratory mice awake six hours longer without noticing any noticeable signs of sleep deprivation in the animals.
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The research results have been published in The Journal of Neuroscience. The team led by neuroscientist Marcos Frank activated astrocytes in the basal forebrain of the mice, a brain region that is associated with sleep-wake phases and the need for sleep. Astrocytes are cells that resemble stars in shape. They belong to the glial cells, which together with the neurons form the nervous system. Experts used to assume that glial cells only supported the nerve cells like a kind of “glue”. Over time, however, more and more scientific papers have appeared on astrocytes, which have shown that they actively interact with neurons and have many functions: For example, they supply nerve cells with nutrients and are involved in signal transmission in the brain.
Neither brain fog nor sluggishness
WSU researchers have also published studies on astrocytes in the past, including one on their role in sleep and wake phases. For their new study, the team relied on so-called chemogenetics to manipulate and examine the signaling pathways within the brain cells of the laboratory mice.
What the research team found particularly remarkable about their results was that the animals kept awake did not show any typical signs of sleep deprivation such as brain fog – “brain fog”, which can manifest itself in concentration problems, among other things – and physical sluggishness. Compared to a control group, which consisted of well-rested mice, the test animals also did not sleep longer and deeper after the waking periods, neuroscientist Frank told the science website New Atlas.
“Our results suggest that our need for sleep is not only dependent on the phases in which we are awake, but is also guided by these long-overlooked non-neuronal cells,” said Ashley Ingiosi, a neuroscientist at Ohio State University and first author of the study, quoted in a WSU press release. ‘We can also now begin to understand exactly how astrocytes interact with neurons to trigger this response and how they direct the expression and regulation of sleep in different parts of the brain.’
Sleep hack for certain professions?
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According to Frank, the research raises the prospect that one day it might be possible to manipulate astrocytes to mitigate the negative effects of prolonged waking hours in certain occupational groups. He’s referring to shift workers and others who work long hours or at odd hours, such as first responders or members of the military.
Next, the scientists want to use behavioral tests on mice to investigate whether the activation of astrocytes in the basal forebrain with the aim of prolonging waking phases might also influence other processes such as attention, learning behavior, memory, metabolism and immune function.
(jl)
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