Paradoxical sleep deprivation induces differential biological response in rat masticatory muscles: Inflammation, autophagy and myogenesis.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether sleep deprivation (SD) induces inflammation, autophagy and myogenesis in the following masticatory muscles: masseter and temporal. In this study, 18 animals were randomly distributed into three groups: control group (CTL, n=6), SD for 96hours (SD96, n=6), and SD for 96hours and more 96hours of sleep recovery (SD96+R, n=6). In the histopathological analysis, SD 96 was able to induce inflammation in masseter and temporal. Nevertheless, the lack of inflammatory process was evidenced to the masseter in the group SD96+R. Upregulation of TNF-alpha production was detected in the SD96 group, while SD96+R decreased TNF immunoexpression for both skeletal muscles evaluated. MyoD and myogenin increased in rats submitted to SD96. By contrast, the levels of MyoD decreased in the group SD96+R. Myogenin pointed out high immunoexpression in SD96+R groups. In temporal, pAkt decreased in animals submitted to SD96, but it increased in the group SD96+R. The levels of LC3 protein increased in both skeletal muscles studied, and masseter decreased LC3 protein expression in the SD96+R. In summary, our results demonstrate that SD is able to induce inflammation, atrophy and myogenesis in rat masticatory muscles, being more intense in temporal when compared to masseter.