Perspective – ultrastructural analyses reflect the effects of sleep and sleep loss on neuronal cell biology

Recent electron microscopic analyses of neurons in the Drosophila and rodent brain demonstrate that acute or chronic sleep loss can alter the structures of various organelles, including mitochondria, nucleus, and Golgi apparatus. Here, we discuss these findings in the context of biochemical findings from the sleep deprived brain, to clarify how these morphological changes may related to altered organelle function. We discuss how, taken together, the available data suggest that sleep loss (particularly chronic sleep loss) disrupts such fundamental cellular processes as transcription, translation, intracellular transport, and metabolism. A better understanding of these effects will have broad implications for understanding the biological importance of sleep, and the relationship of sleep loss to neuropathology.