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Research Points Finger at Genes for Feeling Sleepy
October 19, 2007 at 2:10 PM
Genetics & Stem Cells News
The researchers made the suggestion after finding that the genes responsible for the 24 hour body clock influence not only the timing of sleep, but also appear to be central to the actual restorative process of sleep.
"We still do not know why we benefit from sleep, or why we feel tired when we are 'lacking' sleep, but it seems likely that sleep serves some basic biological function for the brain such as energy restoration for brain cells or memory consolidation," said Dr Bruce O'Hara of the University of Kentucky, one of the neuroscientists on the study.
"We have found that clock gene expression in the brain is highly correlated to the build-up of sleep debt, while previous findings have linked these genes to energy metabolism. Together, this supports the idea that one function of sleep is related to energy metabolism," he added.
As a part of the study, boffins led by Dr. Paul Franken of Stanford University and Lausanne University conducted a study on a mouse model in which they utilized three inbred strains of mice with different genetic make-ups that had previously been shown to differ in their response to sleep deprivation.
In this study, mice were first sleep deprived during the daytime period when mice normally sleep then allowed recovery sleep. Changes in gene expression for three clock genes were examined throughout the brain during both phases. The researchers noted that the more the mice were kept awake the clock gene expression generally increased. When sleep was allowed, the clock gene expression generally decreased.
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