Mice Sleeping Fitfully Provide Clues To Insomnia

Author: Science Blog
Published On: 01/08/2019

Mice that sleep fitfully could help researchers unravel the mystery of insomnia.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis studied mice genetically modified to mimic the genetic disease neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), which is associated with sleep problems. They found that the animals, like some people with NF1, slept in short, irregular spurts. Studying these mice could help identify the molecular and cellular mechanisms that go awry and cause fragmented sleep patterns in people with and without the disease, the researchers said.

“The mice are a tool for us to understand how sleep disturbances arise and how sleep disruption contributes to problems with learning and attention,” said David H. Gutmann, MD, PhD, the Donald O. Schnuck Family Professor of Neurology and the study’s senior author. “This could apply both to people with NF1 and others without NF1 who also have sleep problems.”

The findings were published Jan. 4 in the Journal of Sleep Research.

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