英国研究人员发现，连续缺觉一周扰乱700多个对健康至关重要的基因，从而影响人体生物钟、新陈代谢、免疫反应、抗压能力等，意味着睡眠不佳可能对长期健康有广泛影响。
萨里大学萨里睡眠研究中心的德克-扬·迪克教授带领研究小组，征募14名男性和12名女性志愿者。志愿者年龄在23岁至31岁间，身体健康。研究人员要求志愿者在实验室进行两个阶段的睡眠实验，第一阶段连续一周每晚躺在床上10个小时，第二阶段连续一周每晚躺床上6个小时。每个阶段结束后，志愿者必须连续39至41个小时不睡觉。
研究人员在最新一期美国《国家科学院学报》（PNAS）发表论文说，志愿者血样检测结果显示，睡眠时间对基因活动有大影响，与睡眠充足时相比，缺觉状态下的志愿者，444个基因的活动遭抑制，267个基因更活跃。
受到影响的包括控制新陈代谢的基因，从而可能引起或加剧糖尿病、肥胖；包括影响身体对炎症反应的基因，可能影响心脏病；还包括一些关乎压力和老化的基因。这些变化有助了解缺觉者心脏病、糖尿病、肥胖、抑郁症等疾病风险增加的生物机制。(生物谷Bioon.com)
doi: 10.1073/pnas.1217154110
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Effects of insufficient sleep on circadian rhythmicity and expression amplitude of the human blood transcriptome
Carla S. Moller-Levet, Simon N. Archer, Giselda Bucca, Emma E. Laing, Ana Slak, Renata Kabiljo, June C. Y. Lo, Nayantara Santhi, Malcolm von Schantz, Colin P. Smith, and Derk-Jan Dijk.
Insufficient sleep and circadian rhythm disruption are associated with negative health outcomes, including obesity, cardiovascular disease, and cognitive impairment, but the mechanisms involved remain largely unexplored. Twenty-six participants were exposed to 1 wk of insufficient sleep (sleep-restriction condition 5.70 h, SEM = 0.03 sleep per 24 h) and 1 wk of sufficient sleep (control condition 8.50 h sleep, SEM = 0.11). Immediately following each condition, 10 whole-blood RNA samples were collected from each participant, while controlling for the effects of light, activity, and food, during a period of total sleep deprivation. Transcriptome analysis revealed that 711 genes were up- or down-regulated by insufficient sleep. Insufficient sleep also reduced the number of genes with a circadian expression profile from 1,855 to 1,481, reduced the circadian amplitude of these genes, and led to an increase in the number of genes that responded to subsequent total sleep deprivation from 122 to 856. Genes affected by insufficient sleep were associated with circadian rhythms (PER1, PER2, PER3, CRY2, CLOCK, NR1D1, NR1D2, RORA, DEC1, CSNK1E), sleep homeostasis (IL6, STAT3, KCNV2, CAMK2D), oxidative stress (PRDX2, PRDX5), and metabolism (SLC2A3, SLC2A5, GHRL, ABCA1). Biological processes affected included chromatin modification, gene-expression regulation, macromolecular metabolism, and inflammatory, immune and stress responses. Thus, insufficient sleep affects the human blood transcriptome, disrupts its circadian regulation, and intensifies the effects of acute total sleep deprivation. The identified biological processes may be involved with the negative effects of sleep loss on health, and highlight the interrelatedness of sleep homeostasis, circadian rhythmicity, and metabolism.
