Putting sleep disorders to bed

Overnight flights across the Atlantic, graveyard shifts and stress-induced insomnia are all prime culprits in keeping us from a good night’s sleep. Thanks to new research from McGill University and Concordia University, however, these common sleep disturbances may one day be put to bed.

The rotation of the earth generates day and night. It also confers daily rhythms to all living beings. In mammals, something known as a “circadian clock” in the brain drives daily rhythms in sleep and wakefulness, feeding and metabolism, and many other essential processes. But the inner workings of this brain clock are complex, and the molecular processes behind it have eluded scientists — until now.

In a new study published in the neuroscience journal Neuron, researchers have identified how a fundamental biological process called protein synthesis is controlled within the body’s circadian clock — the internal mechanism that regulates one’s daily rhythms. Their findings may help with the development of future treatments for disorders triggered by circadian clock dysfunction, including jet lag, shift-work disorders and chronic conditions like depression and Parkinson’s disease.

“To understand and treat the causes and symptoms of circadian abnormalities, we have to take a closer look at the fundamental biological mechanisms that control our internal clocks,” says study co-author Shimon Amir, professor in Concordia’s Department of Psychology and director of the Center for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology.

To do so, Amir and co-author Nahum Sonenberg, a James McGill professor in the Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, at the Goodman Cancer Research Centre at McGill University, studied how protein synthesis is controlled in the brain clock. “We identified a repressor protein in the clock and found that by removing this protein, the brain clock function was surprisingly improved,” explains Sonenberg.

Because all mammals have similar circadian clocks, the team used mice to conduct their experiments. They studied mice that lacked a specific protein known as 4E-BP1, which blocks the important function of protein synthesis. They found that these protein-lacking mice overcame disruptions to their circadian clocks more quickly.