Division of Sleep Medicine, Department of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
Sci Transl Med. 2013 Dec 11;5(215):215ra173. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3007092.
Sleep disorders are highly prevalent in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and can significantly impair cognitive rehabilitation. No proven therapies exist to mitigate the neurocognitive consequences of TBI. We show that mild brain injury in mice causes a persistent inability to maintain wakefulness and decreases orexin neuron activation during wakefulness. We gave mice a dietary supplement of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), precursors for de novo glutamate synthesis in the brain. BCAA therapy reinstated activation of orexin neurons and improved wake deficits in mice with mild brain injury. Our data suggest that dietary BCAA intervention, acting in part through orexin, can ameliorate injury-induced sleep disturbances and may facilitate cognitive rehabilitation after brain injury.
睡眠障碍在创伤性脑损伤（TBI）患者中非常普遍，并且会严重影响认知康复。目前尚无经过证实的疗法可以减轻 TBI 的神经认知后果。我们发现，小鼠轻度脑损伤会导致其持续无法保持清醒，并在清醒期间减少食欲素神经元的激活。我们给小鼠补充支链氨基酸（BCAAs），这是大脑中谷氨酸从头合成的前体。BCAA 治疗恢复了轻度脑损伤小鼠的食欲素神经元的激活，并改善了它们的觉醒缺陷。我们的数据表明，饮食 BCAA 干预，部分通过食欲素来发挥作用，可以改善损伤引起的睡眠障碍，并可能促进脑损伤后的认知康复。
