Effect of acute total sleep deprivation on plasma melatonin, cortisol and metabolite rhythms in females

Abstract

Disruption to sleep and circadian rhythms can impact on metabolism. The study aimed to investigate the effect of acute sleep deprivation on plasma melatonin, cortisol and metabolites, to increase understanding of the metabolic pathways involved in sleep/wake regulation processes. Twelve healthy young female participants remained in controlled laboratory conditions for ~92 hr with respect to posture, meals and environmental light (18:00–23:00 hr and 07:00‐09:00 hr <8 lux; 23:00–07:00 hr 0 lux (sleep opportunity) or <8 lux (continuous wakefulness); 09:00–18:00 hr ~90 lux). Regular blood samples were collected for 70 hr for plasma melatonin and cortisol, and targeted liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry metabolomics. Timepoints between 00:00 and 06:00 hr for day 1 (baseline sleep), day 2 (sleep deprivation) and day 3 (recovery sleep) were analysed. Cosinor analysis and MetaCycle analysis were performed for detection of rhythmicity. Night‐time melatonin levels were significantly increased during sleep deprivation and returned to baseline levels during recovery sleep. No significant differences were observed in cortisol levels. Of 130 plasma metabolites quantified, 41 metabolites were significantly altered across the study nights, with the majority decreasing during sleep deprivation, most notably phosphatidylcholines. In cosinor analysis, 58 metabolites maintained their rhythmicity across the study days, with the majority showing a phase advance during acute sleep deprivation. This observation differs to that previously reported for males. Our study is the first of metabolic profiling in females during sleep deprivation and recovery sleep, and offers a novel view of human sleep/wake regulation and sex differences.

Sleep deprivation and stress: a reciprocal relationship

“…These discrepancies could be explained by possible methodological limitations which might prevent an accurate assessment of the effect of sleep deprivation on cortisol release rhythmicity. However, and interestingly, some studies also failed to show a change in the HPA axis activity following total sleep deprivation when the experimental conditions were designed to avoid stress [55][56][57]. This shed light on the potential confounding effects of stress per se in sleep-deprivation experiments.…”

Metabolomics Pilot Study Identifies Desynchronization of 24-H Rhythms and Distinct Intra-patient Variability Patterns in Critical Illness: A Preliminary Report

“…Only positive mode reverse phase MS1 data were collected. Future work should take a targeted approach such as the Biocrates Absolute IDQ kits used in similar research ( 26 ). The metabolite identification reported here is preliminary and should be confirmed in future work.…”

“…Multiple circadian metabolites have been reported in the literature, identified with mass spectrometry-based metabolomics ( 22 – 24 ). Alterations to circadian rhythms in the metabolome have been documented in shift work ( 25 ) and sleep disruption protocols ( 26 ).…”

Coupled network of the circadian clocks: a driving force of rhythmic physiology

“…Consolidating the role of circadian misalignment in development of metabolic disease, chronic sleep deprivation and simulated shifted work in healthy subjects have been shown to cause reduced glucose tolerance [419][420][421] and insulin resistance [402,422,423]. Moreover, induced circadian misalignment resulted in perturbed glucose tolerance and metabolite rhythms [402,[424][425][426][427]. Noteworthy, and in line with studies based on the laboratory protocols of sleep deprivation and shifted activity, observational studies in shift workers reported significantly increased risk of developing T2D that correlated with the number of night shifts per month [428].…”