Phosphorous31 magnetic resonance spectroscopy after total sleep deprivation in healthy adult men.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate chemical changes in the brains of healthy adults after sleep deprivation and recovery sleep, using phosphorous magnetic resonance spectroscopy.


METHODS
Three consecutive nights (baseline, sleep deprivation, recovery) were spent in the laboratory. Objective sleep measures were assessed on the baseline and recovery nights using polysomnography. Phosphorous magnetic resonance spectroscopy scans took place beginning at 7 am to 8 am on the morning after each of the 3 nights.


METHODS
Sleep laboratory in a private psychiatric teaching hospital.


METHODS
Eleven healthy young men.


METHODS
Following a baseline night of sleep, subjects underwent a night of total sleep deprivation, which involved supervision to ensure the absence of sleep but was not polysomnographically monitored.


RESULTS
No significant changes in any measure of brain chemistry were observed the morning after a night of total sleep deprivation. However, after the recovery night, significant increases in total and beta-nucleoside triphosphate and decreases in phospholipid catabolism, measured by an increase in the concentration of glycerylphosphorylcholine, were observed. Chemical changes paralleled some changes in objective sleep measures.


CONCLUSIONS
Significant chemical changes in the brain were observed following recovery sleep after 1 night of total sleep deprivation. The specific process underlying these changes is unclear due to the large brain region sampled in this exploratory study, but changes may reflect sleep inertia or some aspect of the homeostatic sleep mechanism that underlies the depletion and restoration of sleep. Phosphorous magnetic resonance spectroscopy is a technique that may be of value in further exploration of such sleep-wake functions.
Dorsey
Cynthia M
CM
Sleep Disorders Center, Behavioral Psychopharmacology Research Laboratory, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Belmont 02478, USA. cynthia_dorsey@hms.harvard.edu
Lukas
Scott E
SE
Moore
Constance M
CM
Tartarini
Wendy L
WL
Parow
Aimee M
AM
Villafuerte
Rosemond A
RA
Renshaw
Perry F
PF
D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology; D004562:Electrocardiography; D004585:Electrooculography; D005997:Glycerylphosphorylcholine / Q000378:metabolism; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008297:Male; D043583:Nucleoside-Triphosphatase / Q000378:metabolism; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000378:metabolism; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000378:metabolism*; D017286:Polysomnography / Q000295:instrumentation; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology; D012892:Sleep Deprivation / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism*
D010743:Phospholipids; D010758:Phosphorus; D005997:Glycerylphosphorylcholine; D043583:Nucleoside-Triphosphatase