Effects of short-term sleep deprivation on murine immunity to influenza virus in young adult and senescent mice.

Sleep has been proposed as an innate host defense, exerting effects on both specific and nonspecific immunity. In one of the more striking papers dealing with the effects of sleep on specific immunity, Brown et al (Reg. Immunol. 1989; 2: 321-325) reported that depriving influenza virus-immune mice of sleep for 7 hours following total respiratory tract viral challenge abrogated anti-viral immunity within the lungs and lowered the level of anti-influenza antibody in lung homogenates. In the solidly-immune convalescent mouse, nasobronchial immunity to influenza virus has been shown to be due to secretory IgA (S-IgA) within the mucosal mucocilliary blanket, while serum IgG has been shown to mediate protection within the lung parenchyma. In this study we attempted to duplicate the work of Brown et al in solidly immune mice. We were unable to abrogate mucosal anti-influenza viral immunity with a single post-viral-challenge sleep-deprivation episode, nor were we able to depress this immunity with one pre- and two post-challenge sleep-deprivation episodes in young adult or old mice, or with two pre-challenge sleep-deprivation episodes in old mice. Sleep deprivation did not depress the level of serum influenza-specific IgG antibodies, and resulted in increased influenza-specific serum IgG compared with normally sleeping mice in aged immune mice boosted 3 weeks before challenge and sleep deprived once before and twice after challenge (p = 0.005). No differences in anti-viral respiratory immunity were apparent between young and old mice. We conclude that short-term sleep deprivation has minimal effects on pre-existing mucosal and humoral immunity in either the young adult or the senescent mouse.