New and Noteworthy Information—April 2014

Chronic sleep loss may lead to irreversible physical damage to and loss of brain cells, according to research published March 19 in the Journal of Neuroscience. Investigators examined mice following periods of normal rest, short wakefulness, or extended wakefulness to model shift workers’ typical sleep patterns. In response to short-term sleep loss, locus coeruleus neurons upregulated the sirtuin type 3 (SirT3) protein, which protects neurons from metabolic injury. After several days of shift worker sleep patterns, locus coeruleus neurons in the mice had reduced SirT3 and increased cell death. In addition, oxidative stress and acetylation of mitochondrial proteins increased. The mice lost 25% of their locus coeruleus neurons. “This is the first report that sleep loss can actually result in a loss of neurons,” said the authors.

—Erik Greb