The poor sleep quality it is an increasingly widespread problem, especially at the level of Young people, and this is raising concerns about potential neurological repercussions. Now a research conducted byI.R.C.C.S. Neuromed di Pozzilli (IS) on animal models shows that fragmented sleep can actually lead to alterations in brain metabolism, some of which are similar to those of Alzheimer. The key to the phenomenon would be to be found in the establishment of one neurological stress condition.
Published in the scientific journal Frontiers in Aging Neurosciences, research, which sees the collaboration of Tongji Medical College and Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in Wuhan, China, used the latest generation of positron emission tomography (PET) technologies to evaluate various parameters of the nervous metabolism of animals subjected to sleep interruptions.
“After a month and a half of fragmented sleep – he says Nicola D’Ascenzo, professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering of HUST and Head of the Department of Medical Physics and Neuromed Engineering – in the brain of animals we have found the presence of the protein tau-hyperphosphorylated (p-tau) together with signs of gliosis “.
Both the presence of p-tau and the phenomenon of gliosis (during which the destruction of nerve cells is accompanied by the formation of a sort of scar) are characteristic signs of Alzheimer’s disease.
“On the other hand – continues D’Ascenzo – we have found an increase in the consumption of glucose by neurons, which should decrease in Alzheimer’s disease. However, we do know that glucose consumption increases under cellular stress conditions. We therefore think that disturbed sleep has created a stressful situation that induces alterations similar to those of a neurodegenerative disease. We are now planning further research, which will take advantage of the great possibilities offered by the European research infrastructure ‘Eurobioimaging’, of which Neuromed is a node. The question we will try to answer is whether the condition of stress, protracted over time, can make the observed alterations become definitive, leading to the disease itself “.
The health implications could be relevant, as the researcher points out: “We’re not talking about sleep duration here, but its quality. Let’s take the example of a message that arrives on the mobile phone: maybe the ‘beep’ will not cause a real awakening, but it will disturb sleep anyway. And we know that it is very common, especially among young people, to leave the cell phone on during the night, with the various social networks constantly sending messages “.
The study was born as part of an international project between Italy and China funded by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the two countries (MAECI Great Relevance 2019 contributions Italy-China (Grant No. PGR00846).
Ba, L., Huang, L., He, Z., Deng, S., Xie, Y., Zhang, M., …, D’Ascenzo, N. & Ding, F. (2021). Does Chronic Sleep Fragmentation Lead to Alzheimer’s Disease in Young Wild-Type Mice. Front. Aging Neurosci. 13: 759983.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2021.759983
The IRCCS Neuromed
The Neuromed Institute for Scientific Hospitalization and Care (IRCCS) in Pozzilli (IS) represents an Italian and international reference point for research and therapy in the field of diseases affecting the nervous system. A center in which doctors, researchers, staff and patients themselves form an alliance aimed at guaranteeing the best possible level of care and cutting-edge care, guided by the most advanced scientific developments.