Can Loss of Sleep Impact Brain Development in Babies? Study Reveals

A new study led by Sean Gay, a graduate student in the lab of Graham Diering, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Physiology at the UNC School of Medicine, has given us insights into how sleep loss during early life impacts key parts of brain development - and how it can also increase one’s risk for developing autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Their findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“The unique effects of sleep loss during development are largely unexplored,” said Diering. “Our data show that babies and children are more vulnerable to the negative effects of sleep disruption. We also found that sleep loss during this crucial period of time can negatively interact with underlying genetic risk for autism spectrum disorder.”

Diering has long studied how sleep strengthens synapses over time – a process termed synaptic plasticity – and how lack of sleep can contribute to cognitive and neurodegenerative disorders. If researchers could better understand the links between sleep and ASD, researchers and physicians also could make earlier diagnoses and come up with new treatment strategies for the disorder.

Using specialized mouse houses with highly sensitive sensors, researchers were able to carefully track mouse movements and breathing, allowing the researchers to keep score of wake and sleep states.

Researchers showed that when the adult mouse models lost a significant amount of sleep, they compensated for it by increasing sleep later during their regular active hours. Termed “sleep rebound”, this response allowed the adults to “make up” for lost sleep.

The younger mice; on the other hand, lacked sleep rebound entirely. This confirmed the researcher's hypothesis that the younger mice might be more susceptible to the harmful effects of sleep deprivation. Researchers also noted that sleep deprivation in young mice completely impaired their performance in a learning memory task, whereas adults were far more resilient after sleep loss.

Reference: Gay, S. M., Chartampila, E., Lord, J. S., Grizzard, S., Maisashvili, T., Ye, M., ... & Diering, G. H. (2023). Developing forebrain synapses are uniquely vulnerable to sleep loss. bioRxiv, 2023-11.