Diurnal Rhythms in Blood Cell Populations and the Effect of Acute Sleep Deprivation in Healthy Young Men

Abstract

Granulocyte levels and diurnal rhythmicity are directly affected by acute sleep deprivation; these changes mirror the body's immediate immune response upon exposure to stress.

Effect of sleep deprivation on rhythms of clock gene expression and melatonin in humans

“…The observed induction of HSPA1B during sleep deprivation is in agreement with previous work demonstrating its upregulation in obstructive sleep apnoea and diseaseassociated oxidative stress, and enhanced HSPA1B gene expression in several brain regions in mice during sleep deprivation (Lavie et al, 2010;Terao et al, 2003). Interestingly, a recent study on changes in the brain transcriptome upon sleep deprivation demonstrated that upregulation of HSPA1B in mice remains even if the corticosterone arm of the stress response has been eliminated (Mongrain et al, 2010 (Ackermann et al, 2012). Together, our data support the view that sleep deprivation can be regarded as a strong external stressor and immune challenge (Faraut et al, 2012;Mullington et al, 2010).…”

“…A detailed description of the study protocol and the initial screening phase including eligibility criteria have been reported previously (Ackermann et al, 2012). Briefly, study eligibility was determined by questionnaires, medical and physical assessment, and analysis of blood and urine samples.…”

“…Calculated acrophases for melatonin and PER3 expression on N2 were subjected to Spearman correlation. Non-linear curve fitting using a cosine function with a 24 h period on z-scored normalised gene expression levels was employed to characterise diurnal rhythms for each gene (nls function of the stats package of R software version 2.12.0) as described recently (Ackermann et al, 2012). This analysis was phase-adjusted individually using i) average melatonin peak time and ii) average DLMO on baseline sleep night (N2)…”

What is the function of the Brain? What does it do and how does it do it? It functions as a Neuroregulator, which continuously regulates the Autonomic Nervous System and Physiological Systems, and enables us to Recognise that Sleep Exhibits the Characteristics of a Neurally Regulated Physiological System

“…It supports the contention that sleep has biochemical/pathological significance and that it plays a fundamental role eliminating the body of toxins or pathological metabolites which accumulate during periods of physical activity or inactivity, consolidating memories, elevating the production of immunochemicals, and perhaps also changing the way in which memories of different levels of significance are stored [29].…”

“…due to variations of (i) the levels of proteins and/or other biologically significant moieties such as fatty acids, nucleosides, minerals and vitamins; (ii) theprevailing reaction conditions which influence the rate and completeness of such genetic and phenotypic reactions and pathological onset/ outcomes e.g. temperature, acidity, levels of minerals; (iii) the levels of thyroid, pituitary or adrenal hormones; and/or (iv) the precise way which stress acts upon the body to produce a spectrum of pathological correlates/metabolites [28].It supports the contention that sleep has biochemical/pathological significance and that it plays a fundamental role eliminating the body of toxins or pathological metabolites which accumulate during periods of physical activity or inactivity, consolidating memories, elevating the production of immunochemicals, and perhaps also changing the way in which memories of different levels of significance are stored [29].Sleep has an anti-inflammatory role upon cell function which assists the body's natural eliminatory process(es), mainly via the urinary tract and lymphatic ducts, to eliminate toxins and thereby optimise normal cell function [11,12]. This is supported by noting that the brain shrinks in size during periods of sleep [30].…”