Resilience of the Immune System in Healthy Young Students to 30-Hour Sleep Deprivation with Psychological Stress

Abstract

Objective: Young adults often encounter sleep deprivation and stressful events. Both have been separately reported to modulate immunity, and occasionally they occur simultaneously. We assessed the combined effects of these conditions on immune competence in healthy students. Methods: Twenty-three participants (mean age 24 years; SD 1.86; 14 females) were exposed to 30 h of sleep deprivation during which they conducted physiological, social and cognitive tasks. The control group consisted of 18 participants (mean age 23.67 years; SD 1.46; 11 females). All participants underwent cognitive and psychological evaluations at 10:00 AM, followed by blood and saliva collection, 3 days before sleep deprivation induction and on the morning following it. Immune/endocrine measures included blood counts of lymphocytes, granulocytes, monocytes and natural killer (NK) cells; levels of several cell surface markers; NK cytotoxicity; plasma levels of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-10, dehydroepiandrosterone and neuropeptide Y, and plasma and salivary cortisol levels. Results: Although the experimental protocol significantly elevated state anxiety and psychological dissociation levels, no effects were evident in any of the immunological/endocrine indices. In contrast, expected sex differences in immune measures were found, including significantly higher NK cytotoxicity and monocyte counts in males, validating the integrity of the measurements. Conclusions: The findings suggest resilience of the immune system to a combined sleep deprivation and stressful exposure in young adults, while previous studies reported immune perturbations following either of these conditions separately. These apparent contradictions might reflect differences in the study design or in the methodology used for immunological assessments, including the time of sample collection, the combination of sleep deprivation with stress and our in vivo assessment of cytokine levels.

Chronic Mental Stress Induces Reversible Reduction of Natural Killer Cells and CD56^dimSubpopulation

“…Sleep disturbance was detected in 61.5% of the participant without significant difference from the group that did not report sleep disturbance which in hand with previous reports (Matzner et al, 2013;Irish et al, 2013). These data underscore the negative impact of poor sleep quality on the immune system.…”

Stress impairs the efficacy of immune stimulation by CpG-C: Potential neuroendocrine mediating mechanisms and significance to tumor metastasis and the perioperative period

“…These findings indicate the involvement of SNS and HPA reactivity in regulating the immunostimulatory effect of CpG-C through the systemic release of CAs and GCs. Stress responses are common in response to several immune-stimulatory agents (e.g., LPS [22]) and in natural responses to pathogens [46], and could constitute a self-limiting mechanism of TLR-9 activation by CpG-C. Interestingly, with respect to CpG-C, we were unable to observe systemic elevated levels of CORT at the time points studied herein and in previous studies in mice [5, 47]. Nevertheless, in vitro physiological CORT levels dose-dependently reduced the efficacy of CpG-C in elevating IL-12 levels.…”

Peri-Transplant Psychosocial Factors and Neutrophil Recovery following Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

“…Only the trait component of the STAI was evaluated as we were most interested in the effects of anxiety as a stable personality trait. This measure was also chosen due to the more consistent relationship between trait anxiety and changes in immune function [21]–[24] rather than the more ambiguous relationship between state anxiety and immune function [25]–[27].…”