McDonald Daniel M, Keene Alex C
Department of Biology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA.
Aging (Albany NY). 2010 Aug;2(8):519-22. doi: 10.18632/aging.100181.
One of the brain's most important functions is the control of homeostatically regulated behaviors. Dysregulation of the neural systems controlling sleep and feeding underlies many chronic illnesses. In a recent study published in Current Biology we showed that flies, like mammals, suppress sleep when starved and identified the genes Clock and cycle as regulators of sleep during starvation. Here we show that starvation specifically disrupts sleep initiation without affecting sleep consolidation. The identification of genes regulating sleep-feeding interactions will provide insight into how the brain integrates and controls the expression of complex behaviors.
大脑最重要的功能之一是对稳态调节行为的控制。控制睡眠和进食的神经系统失调是许多慢性疾病的基础。在最近发表于《当代生物学》的一项研究中，我们发现果蝇与哺乳动物一样，在饥饿时会抑制睡眠，并确定了基因Clock和cycle是饥饿期间睡眠的调节因子。在此我们表明，饥饿会特异性地干扰睡眠起始，而不影响睡眠巩固。对调节睡眠与进食相互作用的基因的鉴定，将有助于深入了解大脑如何整合并控制复杂行为的表达。
