The team found that Eaat2 works in specific glial cells of the fly brain, rather than in neurons. “It suggests sleep researchers need to look beyond the role of neurons to examine how glial cells control our sleep-wake regulation.” “We think the identification of Eaat2 as a modulator of sleep will be important for researchers who study sleep regulation, sleep-dependent changes in metabolism, and perhaps physicians treating patients with sleep disorders,” said Keene. To determine the role of Eaat2 in metabolic regulation, the researchers simultaneously measured sleep and CO₂ output from single flies. “About 70 million Americans suffer from sleep disorders, and we believe that raising awareness of the importance of understanding fundamental mechanisms of sleep is an important issue globally,” said Keene. Schmidt College of Science and a member of the Jupiter Life Science Initiative. Keene, Ph.D., an associate professor of biological sciences in FAU’s Charles E. Stahl, Ph.D., a post-doctoral fellow at FAU, and Alex C. Schmidt College of Science and a member of the Jupiter Life Science Initiative (JSLI). Stahl, Ph.D., a lead author on the study and a post-doctoral fellow in the lab of Alex C. “Daytime sleep is more fragmented than nighttime sleep, and disrupting Eaat2 function led to daytime sleep that mimics sleep typically observed only during the night,” said Bethany A. The authors found that disruption of Eaat2 in fruit flies caused excess daytime sleepiness. Like humans, fruit flies are highly active during the day and sleep throughout the night. In humans, taurine is consistently elevated in blood and urine of sleep-deprived people, but it is unknown if taurine levels also change in the brain after sleep deprivation. They also discovered that it does this by controlling the movement of taurine – the ingredient found in many energy drinks – into glial cells of the fly brain. They found that Eaat2 promotes wakefulness in fruit flies by limiting the length and intensity of sleep periods. With this approach, they uncovered a gene that encodes the membrane transport protein known as excitatory amino acid transporter 2 or Eaat2. For the study, published in the journal Current Biology, the researchers sought to identify new genes affecting sleep and wakefulness in fruit flies. Thanks to Drosophila melanogaster (more affectionately known as the fruit fly), research teams at Florida Atlantic University and McGill University in Quebec have discovered a new mechanism regulating sleep that involves glia and their ability to manage a common ingredient found in many energy drinks like Red Bull™.įruit flies share 75 percent of the genes that cause diseases in humans and display all of the behavioral and physiological characteristics of sleep. There is growing evidence that glial cells (or glia), long thought to simply “support” neurons within the brain, are actually quite important for diverse aspects of sleep regulation. Over the course of a lifetime, more than 30 percent of people will experience a sleep disorder, which is associated with a number of diseases including Alzheimer’s, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. It is critical for immune function, stable metabolism, brain repair, learning and memory. Sleep is an essential behavioral state in animals ranging from invertebrates to humans.
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