Sleep all comes down to the mitochondria
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Sleep all comes down to the mitochondria
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Re: Sleep all comes down to the mitochondria
#2So the ancient mystery of why we need sleep might have just been answered.
The paper shows that cell‑autonomous mild uncoupling in Drosophila sleep‑inducing neurons -- via Ucp4A/Ucp4C -- keeps the flies awake by lowering mitochondrial Δp and therefore electron leak. This suggests a biochemical rationale for sleep -- which is postponed by the uncoupler. That form of pharmacological manipulation is also a very local intervention and likely has never been tried in mammals. (Most mitochondrial uncouplers aren't that specific and don't cross the BBB very well. Even "safe" new ones like BAM15.) If the paper is correct, not only is the mystery solved, but "healthy" wakefulness-promoting drugs might be on the horizon.
I'm curious about what this means for deep vs. light sleepers, and for people who need more or less sleep than others. Perhaps those traits are modifiable.
Re: Sleep all comes down to the mitochondria
#3So the ancient mystery of why we need sleep might have just been answered. The paper shows that cell‑autonomous mild uncoupling in Drosophila sleep‑inducing neurons -- via Ucp4A/Ucp4C -- keeps the flies awake by lowering mitochondrial Δp and therefore electron leak. This suggests a biochemical rationale for sleep -- which is postponed by the uncoupler. That form of pharmacological manipulation is also a very local in…
What would happen to the main and brain with "Healthy" wakefulness promoting drugs .
Re: Sleep all comes down to the mitochondria
#4Crazy. If true this solves the question why humans need sleep and could be a great direction to resolve further question about sleep diseases.
Re: Sleep all comes down to the mitochondria
#5So the ancient mystery of why we need sleep might have just been answered. The paper shows that cell‑autonomous mild uncoupling in Drosophila sleep‑inducing neurons -- via Ucp4A/Ucp4C -- keeps the flies awake by lowering mitochondrial Δp and therefore electron leak. This suggests a biochemical rationale for sleep -- which is postponed by the uncoupler. That form of pharmacological manipulation is also a very local in…
> So the ancient mystery of why we need sleep might have just been answered.
I would be very surprised if sleep would serve only one purpose. In complex interconnected systems you usually don't get far with monocausal explanations.
Re: Sleep all comes down to the mitochondria
#6Something I thought was just an internet tale: mitochondria are close descendants of bacteria, and so taking antibiotics will potentially harm them. But turns out this is actually rooted in science ...
Re: Sleep all comes down to the mitochondria
#7So the ancient mystery of why we need sleep might have just been answered. The paper shows that cell‑autonomous mild uncoupling in Drosophila sleep‑inducing neurons -- via Ucp4A/Ucp4C -- keeps the flies awake by lowering mitochondrial Δp and therefore electron leak. This suggests a biochemical rationale for sleep -- which is postponed by the uncoupler. That form of pharmacological manipulation is also a very local in…
> So the ancient mystery of why we need sleep might have just been answered. I would be very surprised if sleep would serve only one purpose. In complex interconnected systems you usually don't get far with monocausal explanations.
AI frenzy almost convinced me that sleep was the training of our neural network with all the prompts of the day.
And now this /o\
Re: Sleep all comes down to the mitochondria
#8So, what products would work as "sleep in a pill", at least on the "not being exhausted" part (I suppose the "not getting crazy because of lack of REM sleep" would be different) ?
Re: Sleep all comes down to the mitochondria
#9So the ancient mystery of why we need sleep might have just been answered. The paper shows that cell‑autonomous mild uncoupling in Drosophila sleep‑inducing neurons -- via Ucp4A/Ucp4C -- keeps the flies awake by lowering mitochondrial Δp and therefore electron leak. This suggests a biochemical rationale for sleep -- which is postponed by the uncoupler. That form of pharmacological manipulation is also a very local in…
> So the ancient mystery of why we need sleep might have just been answered. I would be very surprised if sleep would serve only one purpose. In complex interconnected systems you usually don't get far with monocausal explanations.
It would make sense if there was a monocausal explanation of why ancient ancestors started sleeping, but then other body functions started making use of the sleeping system since it was at hand.
Re: Sleep all comes down to the mitochondria
#10Something I thought was just an internet tale: mitochondria are close descendants of bacteria, and so taking antibiotics will potentially harm them. But turns out this is actually rooted in science ...
It does appear that this can be a problem.
This paper is focusing on ribosome inhibitors like tetracycline.