Paradoxal sleep deprivation effect in Plasmodium yoelii infection

• Grant number: 15/26240-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2016
• End date: December 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Immunology - Applied Immunology
• Principal Investigator: Daniela Santoro Rosa
• Grantee: Marcela Luize Barbosa
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Sleep is a temporary physiological phenomenon that alternates with wakefulness and it is necessary for survival, seeking functions as memory processing and brain plasticity. Since sleep is also an important regulator of the immune response, sleep deprivation can hamper immunity, changing several components and, thus, increasing susceptibility to infections. Immune response also affects sleep patterns; therefore, it is a bidirectional way. Many infections can modify the sleep pattern, extending the duration of slow-wave sleep (non-REM) and, consequently, diminishing the REM sleep. Some studies showed that parasitic infections as malaria, filariasis and trypanosomiasis can change the sleep pattern by modulation the immune response. On the other hand, little information is known about the effect of sleep deprivation in infections and in the inducted immune response. Malaria is an infection caused by parasites of the genus Plasmodium which are transmitted by the bite of an infected anopheline mosquito. According to WHO (World Health Organization), malaria is responsible for more than 600.000 deaths per year. Several Plasmodium species infect numerous intermediate hosts such as rodents and primates and such animal models can be used to advance our knowledge of the immune response during infection. Based on such observations, the aim of the present work is to evaluate the effects of paradoxical sleep deprivation (REM) in mice infected with Plasmodium voelii. For such purpose, C57BL/6 mice will be infected and sleep deprived in different time points for parasitemia quantification, survival rate and analyses of innate and adaptive immune response.