Identification of a biomarker for sleep drive in flies and humans

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0609463104
• Publication Date: 2006-12-14T02:56:21Z
• Authors: Laurent Seugnet; Jaime Boero; Laura Gottschalk; Stephen P. Duntley; Paul J. Shaw
• Keywords: Sleep; Sleep restriction; Identification

It is a common experience to sacrifice sleep meet the demands of our 24-h society. Current estimates reveal that as society, we on average 2 h less than did 40 years ago. This level restriction results in negative health outcomes and sufficient produce cognitive deficits reduced attention associated with increased risk for traffic occupational accidents. Unfortunately, there no simple quantifiable marker can detect an individual who excessively sleepy before adverse become evident. To address this issue, have developed effective strategy identifying biomarkers sleepiness by using genetic pharmacological tools dissociate drive from wake time model organism Drosophila melanogaster . These studies identified biomarker, Amylase , highly correlated drive. More importantly, both salivary activity mRNA levels are also responsive extended waking humans. data indicate fly relevant human research represents first step developing method detecting vulnerable populations.