Dr. Ravi Allada discovers simple 2-cycle method for waking up and going to sleep
Image provided by Justin Muir, Northwestern Visualization
In a new paper, A Conserved Bicycle Model for Circadian Clock Control of Membrane Excitability, published in the journal Cell, the Allada lab, in collaboration with Dr. Indira Raman, have recently discovered a new, simple, 2-cycle method for regulating the wake/sleep cycle. The study, lead by Matthieu Flourakis, a postdoctoral fellow, shows that daily antiphase cycles of sodium and potassium currents drive 24h rhythmic activity in neurons controlling sleep and wake cycles in both the fuit flies and mouse. Thus, authors reveal an evolutionarily ancient strategy for the neural mechanisms that govern daily sleep and wake.
Allada explains "Our starting point for this research was mutant flies missing a sodium channel who walked in a halting manner and had poor circadian rhythms…It took a long time, but we were able to pull everything -- genomics, genetics, behavior studies and electrical measurements of neuron activity -- together in this paper, in a study of two species…Now, of course, we have more questions about what's regulating this sleep-wake pathway, so there is more work to be done”.
The full article can be found on Northwestern News.
13 August 2015