Mechanistic Studies on the Impact of Sleep Deprivation on Gene Regulation

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Project Summary Sleep deprivation presents an increasing threat to individual health and public safety as well as an economic burden due to lost productivity, traffic accidents, occupational accidents, and skyrocketing healthcare costs. There has been an astonishing rise in the number of individuals affected by sleep deprivation with approximately 35% of U.S. adults and a staggering 70% of teenagers reporting insufficient sleep. Sleep deprivation induces significant impairments in memory and performance, aggravates psychiatric and neurological disorders and increases disease risk, especially neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. Given the significant number of people affected by sleep deprivation, and the potentially devastating consequences of sleep loss in terms of disease and dementia, it is essential to identify the cellular consequences of sleep deprivation and to define the specific molecular targets and processes impacted. Recent research suggests that the influence of acute sleep deprivation on memory occurs at the cellular and synaptic level, although the specific mechanisms through which sleep deprivation exerts these effects remain poorly understood. The hippocampus, a critical brain region for memory, is particularly susceptible to the effects of acute sleep deprivation. Previously, we found that sleep deprivation decreases protein synthesis in the hippocampus leading to impairments and deficits in synaptic plasticity. We hypothesize that sleep deprivation targets multiple processes that affect the regulation of gene expression, which is comprised of changes in transcription, RNA processing and localization, and protein synthesis. The objectives of this proposal are to define the molecular and cellular mechanisms through which sleep deprivation impacts gene regulation and to define the affected subregions and cell types within the hippocampus. In Specific Aim 1, we focus on the signaling pathways through which sleep deprivation affects protein synthesis to adversely impact long-term memory and synaptic plasticity with a focus on identifying mechanisms of resilience to sleep loss. In Specific Aim 2, we investigate the effects of sleep deprivation on RNA fate at the subcellular level and explicitly detail the effects of sleep deprivation on the pool of mRNA available for translation. In Specific Aim 3, we employ state of the art techniques to define the impact of sleep deprivation across subregions within the hippocampus and within individual cell types providing a detailed spatial map and cellular signature of the effects of sleep deprivation. The results from our comprehensive proposal integrating in vivo behavioral manipulations to mitigate the effects of sleep deprivation on memory, the subcellular analysis of the effects of sleep deprivation on RNA fate and protein synthesis, and the identification of cell specific signatures of sleep deprivation, will provide significant insights into the negative impacts of sleep deprivation on memory, potentially leading to the development of therapeutics to counteract the consequences of sleep loss on cognition and neurodegenerative disorders.