Heritability of Sleep Electroencephalogram

Ambrosius, U.; Lietzenmaier, S.; Wehrle, R.; Wichniak, Adam; Kalus, Stefanie; Winkelmann, Juliane; Bettecken, Thomas; Holsboer, Florian; Yassouridis, Alexander; Frieß, Elisabeth

doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2008.03.002

Cited by 154 publications

(123 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…This conclusion is supported by two recent studies comparing for the first time the spectral composition of the sleep EEG between MZ and DZ twin pairs. In nonREM sleep, the within-pair concordance in spectral power in the 2-13 Hz range is significantly higher in MZ twins than in DZ twins [31]. Especially alpha/sigma frequencies appear to reflect particularly strong genetic influences.…”

Section: Sleep and Waking Eegmentioning

confidence: 86%

Genotype-Dependent Differences in Sleep, Vigilance, and Response to Stimulants

Landolt

2008

CPD

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Abstract:To better understand the neurobiology of sleep disorders, detailed understanding of circadian and homeostatic sleep-wake regulation in healthy volunteers is mandatory. Sleep physiology and the repercussions of experimentallyinduced sleep deprivation on sleep and waking electroencephalogram (EEG), vigilance and subjective state are highly variable, even in healthy individuals. Accumulating evidence suggests that many aspects of normal sleep-wake regulation are at least in part genetically controlled. Current heritability estimates of sleep phenotypes vary between approximately 20-40 % for habitual sleep duration, to over 90 % for the spectral characteristics of the EEG in nonREM sleep. The molecular mechanisms underlying the trait-like, inter-individual variation are virtually unknown, and the human genetics of normal sleep is only at the beginning of being explored. The first studies identified distinct polymorphisms in genes contributing to the endogenous circadian clock and neurochemical systems previously implicated in sleep-wake regulation, to modulate sleep architecture and sleep EEG, vulnerability to sleep loss, and subjective and objective effects of caffeine on sleep. These insights are reviewed here. They disclose molecular mechanisms contributing to normal sleep-wake regulation in humans, and have potentially important implications for the neurobiology of sleep-wake disorders and their pharmacological treatment.

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Section: Sleep and Waking Eegmentioning

confidence: 86%

Genotype-Dependent Differences in Sleep, Vigilance, and Response to Stimulants

Landolt

2008

CPD

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“…Ambrosius et al (2008) quantified the EEG profiles in NREM sleep in 35 pairs of monozygotic twins (17 male pairs, 18 female pairs; age range: 17-43 years) and 14 pairs of dizygotic twins (7 male pairs, 7 female pairs; age range: 18-26 years). Genetic variance analysis identified substantial genetic influences on spectral power in 2-13 Hz oscillations.…”

Section: Heritability Of Sleep Eegmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic determination of sleep EEG profiles in healthy humans

Landolt

2011

Progress in Brain Research

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The contribution of slow brain oscillations including delta, theta, alpha, and sigma frequencies to the sleep electroencephalography (EEG) is finely regulated by circadian and homeostatic influences, and reflects functional aspects of wakefulness and sleep. Accumulating evidence demonstrates that individual sleep EEG patterns in non-rapid-eye-movement (NREM) sleep and rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep are heritable traits. More specifically, multiple recordings in the same individuals, as well as studies in monozygotic and dizygotic twins suggest that a very high percentage of the robust interindividual variation and the high intraindividual stability of sleep EEG profiles can be explained by genetic factors (> 90% in distinct frequency bands). Still little is known about which genes contribute to different sleep EEG phenotypes in healthy humans. The genetic variations that have been identified to date include functional polymorphisms of the clock gene PER3 and of genes contributing to signal transduction pathways involving adenosine (ADA, ADORA2A), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), dopamine (COMT), and prion protein (PRNP). Some of these polymorphisms profoundly modulate sleep EEG profiles; their effects are reviewed here. It is concluded that the search for genetic contributions to slow sleep EEG oscillations constitutes a promising avenue to identify molecular mechanisms underlying sleep-wake regulation in humans.

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“…From a quantitative genetic viewpoint, twin studies in adults have determined that objectively measured sleep characteristics such as the overall EEG spectral composition of non-REM sleep (Ambrosius et al 2008;De Gennaro et al 2008), the proportion of time spent in sleep stage 2 and slow-wave sleep (stages 3 and 4), and the density of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep (Linkowski et al 1991;Linkowski et al 1989) have a strong genetic component. In addition, studies using selfreport data have estimated that around 30-50% of the variance in subjective sleep quality is accounted for by genetic influence Heath et al 1990;Partinen et al 1983).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonshared Environmental Influences on Sleep Quality: A Study of Monozygotic Twin Differences

et al. 2011

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Research has consistently demonstrated that environmental influences are important for explaining the variability in sleep quality observed in the general population. Although there is substantial evidence assessing associations between sleep quality and a host of environmental variables, it is possible that their effects are mediated by genetic influence. A monozygotic twin differences design was used to assess the specific contribution of nonshared environmental influences on sleep quality, whilst controlling for genetic and shared environmental effects in a sample of 380 monozygotic twins (mean age 19.8 years, SD=1.26, range=18-22 years). Participants completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and questionnaires assessing several candidate "environmental" measures. When controlling for genetic and shared environmental effects, within monozygotic twin-pair differences in sleep quality were associated with within monozygotic twin-pair differences in general health for males (β=1.56, p<.001) and relationship satisfaction for females (β=1.01, p<.05). For the remaining environmental measures the results suggest that these seemingly "environmental" influences are actually in part dependent on genetics and/or the shared environment. These findings give insight into how specific environments affect sleep and the possible mechanisms behind these associations.

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Heritability of Sleep Electroencephalogram

Cited by 154 publications

References 35 publications

Genotype-Dependent Differences in Sleep, Vigilance, and Response to Stimulants

Genotype-Dependent Differences in Sleep, Vigilance, and Response to Stimulants

Genetic determination of sleep EEG profiles in healthy humans

Nonshared Environmental Influences on Sleep Quality: A Study of Monozygotic Twin Differences

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