Shaw uses fruit flies as models for sleep’s effects in higher organisms. “If you identify the appropriate lipids involved in sleep regulation and figure out how to control them, you may be able to decrease suffering associated with loss of sleep or the need to stay awake.” “It’s becoming apparent that fats serve as signaling molecules in a number of contexts,” says Semenkovich, a professor of medicine. Until now, no one had connected genes linked to lipids with regulation of the need for sleep.Ĭlay Semenkovich, a Washington University lipid expert not directly involved in the study, says the results fit into a growing awareness that organisms use lipids for much more than energy storage. Scientists recognized about a decade ago that inadequate sleep results in obesity and contributes to the development of diabetes and coronary disease. The findings add a new wrinkle to the complex relationship between sleep and dietary metabolism. “Modifying lipid processing with drugs may provide us with a new way of tackling sleep problems that is more effective or has fewer side effects.” “The major drugs we have to either put people to sleep or keep them awake are all targeted to a small number of pathways in the brain, all of them having to do with neurotransmission,” says Paul Shaw, assistant professor of neurobiology and anatomy. Researchers showed that the ability to resist the effects of sleep loss was linked to a protein that helps the fruit fly brain manage its storage and use of lipids, a class of molecules that includes fats such as cholesterol and fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamins A and D. But in a line of flies engineered to be sensitive to sleep deprivation, starvation nearly tripled the amount of time they could survive without sleep. Like humans and rats, fruit flies cannot survive without sleep. The study appears online this week in PLoS Biology. Louis found that starvation allows the need for nourishment to push aside the need for sleep. Scientists at Washington University in St. LOUIS (US)-Being hungry may provide a way to stay awake without feeling groggy or mentally challenged, according to new research with fruit flies.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |