Abstract
Depression, which is characterized by a pervasive and persistent low mood and anhedonia, greatly impacts patients, their families, and society. The associated and recurring sleep disturbances further reduce patient's quality of life. However, therapeutic sleep deprivation has been regarded as a rapid and robust antidepressant treatment for several decades, which suggests a complicated role of sleep in development of depression. Changes in neural plasticity are observed during physiological sleep, therapeutic sleep deprivation, and depression. This correlation might help us to understand better the mechanism underlying development of depression and the role of sleep. In this review, we first introduce the structure of sleep and the facilitated neural plasticity caused by physiological sleep. Then, we introduce sleep disturbances and changes in plasticity in patients with depression. Finally, the effects and mechanisms of antidepressants and therapeutic sleep deprivation on neural plasticity are discussed.
Highlights
Depression, which is characterized by a pervasive and persistent low mood and anhedonia, greatly impacts patients, their families, and society
Our work has demonstrated that increased rapid eye movement (REM) sleep induced by bilateral olfactory bulbectomy is associated with A2A receptors (A2ARs) in the olfactory bulb and can be normalized by acute administration of fluoxetine, but depressive behaviors remain the same [155, 156]
While the REM-suppressing role of A2ARs in the olfactory bulb can be explained by mutual connections with REMregulating nuclei in the brainstem via the piriform cortex and amygdala, depressive behaviors induced by bilateral olfactory bulbectomy seem to be long-lasting and need further investigation
Summary
Depression, which is characterized by a pervasive and persistent low mood and anhedonia, greatly impacts patients, their families, and society. Therapeutic sleep deprivation exerts a rapid and robust antidepressant effect in patients with broadly defined depression. These facts raise the possibility that depression and accompanying sleep disturbances share a common origin. In other words, they may represent different phenotypes of the same pathophysiological process. They may represent different phenotypes of the same pathophysiological process To address this question, we first examine the macro- and microstructures of sleep and present evidence of how sleep facilitates neural plasticity. We list the sleep disturbances and changes in neural plasticity in depression, including studies on humans and animals, and explain the common mechanisms. We consider sleep deprivation as a therapy for depression and explain the consequences and mechanism in detail
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