Effects of acute and chronic sleep loss on immune modulation of rats

Abstract

Sleep deprivation is now recognized as an increasingly common condition inherent to modern society, and one that in many ways, is detrimental to certain physiological systems, namely, immune function. Although sleep is now viewed by a significant body of researchers as being essential for the proper working of a host of defense systems, the consequences of a lack of sleep on immune function remains to be fully comprehended. The aim of the current study was to investigate how paradoxical sleep deprivation (PSD) for 24 and 96 h and sleep restriction (SR) for 21 days by the modified multiple-platform method, and their respective 24-h recovery periods, affect immune activation in rats. To this end, we assessed circulating white blood cell counts, lymphocyte count within immune organs, as well as Ig and complement production. The data revealed that PSD for 96 h increased complement C3 and corticosterone concentration in relation to the control group. In contrast, the spleen weight, total leukocytes, and lymphocytes decreased during SR for 21 days when compared with the control group, although production of a certain class of immunoglobulin, the IgM, did increase. After recovery sleep, lymphocyte count in axillary lymph nodes grew when rats had rebound sleep after PSD for 24 h, neutrophils increased after PSD 96 h and lymphocytes numbers were higher after SR 21 days. Such alterations during sleep deprivation suggest only minor alterations of nonspecific immune parameters during acute PSD, and a significant impairment in cellular response during chronic SR.

Sleep deprivation attenuates endotoxin-induced cytokine gene expression independent of day length and circulating cortisol in male Siberian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus)

“…This result is consistent with studies in rats that demonstrate elevation of baseline glucocorticoid concentrations after 48h of sleep deprivation or 7days of sleep restriction, but not after 24h of sleep deprivation using the modified multiple platform method (Zager et al, 2007).…”

“…bees (Beyaert et al, 2012), songbirds (Jones et al, 2010), rodents (Zager et al, 2007;Zager et al, 2012)]. A growing body of experimental and epidemiological studies has demonstrated that sleep loss induces alterations in the immune system that predispose individuals towards disease (Faraut et al, 2012).…”

Long-term exposure to unpredictable and uncontrollable aversive events alters fearfulness in sheep

“…This same pattern has been observed in humans, total white blood cells (leukocytes) decreasing in depressed patients (Leonard and Song, 1996;Bellingrath et al, 2010). In addition, chronic stress in rats led to a decrease in total leukocyte and lymphocyte counts (Zager et al, 2007). These results therefore suggest that our long-term exposure to unpredictable aversive events may induce a chronic stress state in lambs, characterized among other things by a low granulocyte count.…”

“…It has been shown in both humans and laboratory animals that repeated negative emotional experiences can compromise immune function (Leonard and Song, 1996;Zager et al, 2007) and lead to behavioural changes (for a review, Blanchard et al, 2001). In addition, in humans, repeated negative emotional experiences known to induce chronic stress can ultimately heighten fearfulness (Glaser et al, 2006).…”

Motor Control in Chronically Sleep-Restricted Rats: A Behavioral Approach

“…Sleep loss is a common condition in new lifestyle while in many instances, its potential adverse impact is under-attended [6]. Based on the experimental and population-based evidence, sleep restriction may generate numerous changes in the body, such as memory defects [7], hormonal [8], immunological abnormalities [9,10] and impaired motor activity [11]. Meanwhile, the exact mechanism through which impaired sleep affects such functions needs to be further explained.…”