Sleep Loss Promotes Astrocytic Phagocytosis and Microglial Activation in Mouse Cerebral Cortex.

ABSTRACT: We previously found that Mertk and its ligand Gas6, astrocytic genes involved in phagocytosis, are upregulated after acute sleep deprivation. These results suggested that astrocytes may engage in phagocytic activity during extended wake, but direct evidence was lacking. Studies in humans and rodents also found that sleep loss increases peripheral markers of inflammation, but whether these changes are associated with neuroinflammation and/or activation of microglia, the brain's resident innate immune cells, was unknown. Here we used serial block-face scanning electron microscopy to obtain 3D volume measurements of synapses and surrounding astrocytic processes in mouse frontal cortex after 6-8 h of sleep, spontaneous wake, or sleep deprivation (SD) and after chronic (∼5 d) slee

SUBMITTER: Bellesi M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5456108 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature