14 DAY TRIAL // Researchers looking into understanding the triggers that favor the onset and development of Alzheimer's disease recommend that people respect their normal sleeping times whenever possible. In new scientific studies, investigators determined that the lack of sleep could contribute to the production of a biomolecule that had been directly linked to the neurodegenerative form of dementia.
ScienceNow reports that, in studies conducted on both mice and humans, the levels of the peptide amyloid-β rose during the day. In fact, they continued to rise during wake hours, and their production increased slightly the more tired a test subject got. When the participants, or the animal models, went to sleep, the peptide's concentration in the body decreased significantly. In mice, the scientists noticed that the lack of sleep caused formations known as plaques, which are essentially amyloid-β deposits. Similar structures can be found in the neural pathways of people suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
The team behind the experiments admits that the connection still merits more investigating, and that a clear conclusion is still far away. Regardless, if it turns out to be correct, the correlation could also hint at new avenues of research in developing drugs and therapies for the unforgiving condition. As Alzheimer's progresses, it hinders higher cognitive functions, as well as memory recollection. Eventually, once its development is complete, patients suffer irreparable damage and die. This form of dementia is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, where more than 5.3 million people have it.
“I find it really cool that sleep is a modulator of amyloid-β production. It's another insight, another glimmer of hope,” University of Chicago in Illinois (UCI) molecular neurobiologist Sam Sisodia says. He adds that the levels of amyloid-β rise and fall with the synaptic activity, which is another aspect to consider when experts set out to devise treatments based on the current finds. Over the past few years, scientists in research groups around the world have taken a stance against the condition, and millions of dollars in funding are pouring towards finding its causes, and devising therapies against it.