"Derk-Jan Dijk, from the University of Surrey in the UK presented some very interesting data on what happens to the transcriptional profile of cells in human blood when sleep is disrupted. Normally, he said, ~6.4% of the blood ‘transcriptome’ shows a circadian pattern of transcription. When sleep is restricted or mistimed, however, the rhythmic day-night difference in transcription of genes drops down to ~1%. Many of these genes are involved in metabolic and immune pathways, important for maintaining homeostasis and health. Chiara Cirellispoke on the ultrastructural changes that occur on the subcellular level in response to sleep disruption. She and her team have found that when sleep is restricted, mitochondria seem to enlarge and alter their shape, and lysosomes become more active as well. Furthermore, sleep disruption increased the prevalence of lipofuscin, a lysosomal byproduct that is usually associated with normal and advanced aging. Astoundingly, they were even able to discriminate between animals that had normal sleep/wake cycles and those with disrupted sleep just on the basis of changes in subcellular architecture with ~75% accuracy!"
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