Induction of Mutant Allele in Neurons in Late Infancy Increases Sleep Need.

Sleep is regulated in a homeostatic manner. Sleep deprivation increases sleep need, which is compensated mainly by increased EEG δ power during non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREMS) and, to a lesser extent, by increased sleep amount. Although genetic factors determine the constitutive level of sleep need and sleep amount in mice and humans, the molecular entity behind sleep need remains unknown. Recently, we found that a gain-of-function () mutation in the () gene, which produces the mutant SIK3(SLP) protein, leads to an increase in NREMS EEG δ power and sleep amount. Since mice express SIK3(SLP) in various types of cells in the brain as well as multiple peripheral tissues from the embryonic stage, the cell type and developmental stage responsible for the sleep phenotype in mice remain to be elucidated. Here, we generated two mouse lines, and mice, which enable inducible Cre-mediated, conditional expression of SIK3(SLP) in neurons on tamoxifen administration. Administration of tamoxifen to mice during late infancy resulted in higher recombination efficiency than administration during adolescence. SIK3(SLP) expression after late infancy increased NREMS and NREMS δ power in male mice. The expression of SIK3(SLP) after adolescence led to a higher NREMS δ power without a significant change in NREMS amounts. Thus, neuron-specific expression of SIK3(SLP) after late infancy is sufficient to increase sleep. The propensity to accumulate sleep need during wakefulness and to dissipate it during sleep underlies the homeostatic regulation of sleep. However, little is known about the developmental stage and cell types involved in determining the homeostatic regulation of sleep. Here, we show that allele induction in mature neurons in late infancy is sufficient to increase non-rapid eye movement sleep amount and non-rapid eye movement sleep δ power. SIK3 signaling in neurons constitutes an intracellular mechanism to increase sleep.