Researchers have discovered neurons that convert stress into insomnia and memory problems.
The discovery confirms that stress and sleep disorders may be interconnected, but at the same time have separate mechanisms of influence on the brain.
Scientists have for the first time identified a group of neurons in the hypothalamus that may explain how stress leads to sleep disorders and memory impairment. This is reported by Nature with reference to a study published in The Journal of Neuroscience.
These are neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, which secrete the hormone corticotropin and play a key role in regulating stress responses. As scientists have found, activating these neurons disrupts sleep and weakens memory, while blocking them, on the contrary, slightly improves sleep and significantly increases the ability to remember.
For co-author Shinjae Jeong, a neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania, the study also has a personal dimension: she admitted that she herself experiences sleep problems during times of stress, which negatively affects her work and studies.
During the experiments, mice were placed in a stressful situation – kept in plastic tubes. Later, they were recorded as having sleep disorders and problems with spatial memory. Similar effects were caused by artificial stimulation of the relevant neurons, and blocking them improved the results.
The discovery confirms that stress and sleep disorders may be interconnected, but at the same time have separate mechanisms of influence on the brain. According to the researchers, these neurons may become targets for new treatments for stress and psychiatric disorders, including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.