Challenging the widely accepted notion that the brain controls sleep, a study has found a protein in the muscle can lessen the effect of sleep loss in mice.
The finding — a collaboration between UT Southwestern's Peter O'Donnell Jr Brain Institute and two other medical centers — gives scientists a new target besides the brain to develop therapies for people with excessive sleepiness.
Study author Dr Joseph S. Takahashi from UT Southwestern Medical Center said that the finding is completely unexpected and may change the way people think sleep is controlled.
The research demonstrates how a circadian clock protein in the muscle - BMAl1 — regulates the length and manner of sleep. Such treatments could benefit people in occupations requiring long stretches of wakefulness, from military to airline piloting.
The study appears in the journal of elife.