Impact of REM sleep deprivation and sleep recovery on circulatory neuroinflammatory markers

OBJECTIVES: Sleep loss may contribute to neuroinflammation, which might increase neuroinflammatory markers such as neuron-specific enolase (NSE), creatine kinase-brain fraction (CK-BB), lactate dehydrogenase brain fraction (LDH-BB) in blood. Hence, we evaluated the effect of REM sleep deprivation and recovery on these markers. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty-four adult male Sprague Dawley rats were grouped as control, environmental control, REM sleep deprivation, and 24 hour sleep recovery. The rats were sleep deprived for 72 hours and recovered for 24 hours. NSE, CK-BB, and LDH-BB levels in serum were measured using ELISA. RESULTS: The serum NSE, CK-BB, and LDH-BB were significantly higher in 72 hour sleep deprived group compared to control (p<0.01). After 24 hours of sleep recovery, the levels of NSE, CK-BB, and LDH-BB were comparable to control (p>0.05). DISCUSSION: REM sleep deprivation increased serum NSE, CK-BB, and LDH-BB, which might be due to neural damage. However, 24 hours of sleep recovery restored these markers.