Abstract
Background: Sleep deprivation can markedly influence vigilant attention that is essential to complex cognitive processes. The hypothalamus plays a critical role in arousal and attention regulation. However, the functional involvement of the hypothalamus in attentional impairments after total sleep deprivation (TSD) remains unclear. The purpose of this study is to investigate the alterations in hypothalamic functional connectivity and its association with the attentional performance following TSD.Methods: Thirty healthy adult males were recruited in the study. Participants underwent two resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) scans, once in rested wakefulness (RW) and once after 36 h of TSD. Seed-based functional connectivity analysis was performed using rs-fMRI for the left and right hypothalamus. Vigilant attention was measured using a psychomotor vigilance test (PVT). Furthermore, Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship between altered hypothalamic functional connectivity and PVT performance after TSD.Results: After TSD, enhanced functional connectivity was observed between the left hypothalamus and bilateral thalamus, bilateral anterior cingulate cortex, right amygdala, and right insula, while reduced functional connectivity was observed between the left hypothalamus and bilateral middle frontal gyrus (AlphaSim corrected, P < 0.01). However, significant correlation between altered hypothalamic functional connectivity and PVT performance was not observed after Bonferroni correction (P > 0.05).Conclusion: Our results suggest that TSD can lead to disrupted hypothalamic circuits, which may provide new insight into neural mechanisms of attention impairments following sleep deprivation.
Highlights
Sleep deprivation is a common complaint in modern society
After total sleep deprivation (TSD), enhanced functional connectivity was observed between the left hypothalamus and bilateral thalamus, bilateral anterior cingulate cortex, right amygdala, and right insula, while reduced functional connectivity was observed between the left hypothalamus and bilateral middle frontal gyrus (AlphaSim corrected, P < 0.01)
Our results suggest that TSD can lead to disrupted hypothalamic circuits, which may provide new insight into neural mechanisms of attention impairments following sleep deprivation
Summary
Sleep deprivation is a common complaint in modern society. It seriously affects multiple cognitive processes, such as vigilant attention, work memory, and decision making (Krause et al, 2017). Vigilant attention is essential to complex cognitive processes and is especially susceptible to sleep deprivation (Collet et al, 2020). The longer the duration of sleep deprivation, the worse the accumulating attention impairments. Clarifying the neural mechanisms for attentional deficits would help us counter the negative effects elicited by sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation can markedly influence vigilant attention that is essential to complex cognitive processes. The functional involvement of the hypothalamus in attentional impairments after total sleep deprivation (TSD) remains unclear.
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