Chronic satiety sleep deprivation reduces levels of the pleiotrophin (PTN) protein, which leads to neuronal dysfunction and subsequent neurodegenerative diseases.
Publika.az informs that the conclusions reached by scientists of Bingzhou Medical College were published in “The Publications Division of the American Chemical Society” (ACS).
Numerous studies have shown that sleep deprivation causes neurological damage in the hippocampus, the brain responsible for learning and memory. To investigate the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon, Chinese scientists analyzed the changes in RNA triggered by sleep deprivation. RNA is ribonucleic acid, one of the three molecules found in the cell nucleus. It is involved in the coding and expression of genes.
It turns out that sleep deprivation leads to a decrease in pleiotrophin (PTN) levels in mice. This protein is encoded by the PTN gene. Scientists have found that reduced PTN levels lead to neuronal dysfunction in the hippocampus. Researchers argue that this process occurs frequently in neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia (including Alzheimer’s disease) in humans.
Scientists believe that the level of PTN can be an indicator of the presence of cognitive disorders caused by lack of sleep.
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