Abstract
Lately, Drosophila has been favored as a model in sleep and circadian rhythm research due to its conserved mechanism and easily manageable operation. These studies have revealed the sophisticated parameters in whole-day sleep profiles of Drosophila, drawing connections between Drosophila sleep and human sleep. In this study, we tested several sleep deprivation protocols (mechanical shakes and light interruptions) on Drosophila and delineated their influences on Drosophila sleep. We applied a daytime light-deprivation protocol (DD) mimicking jet-lag to screen drugs that alleviate sleep deprivation. Characteristically, classical sleep-aid compounds exhibited different forms of influence: phenobarbital and pentobarbital modified total sleep time, while melatonin only shortened the latency to sleep. Such results construct the basis for further research on sleep benefits in other treatments in Drosophila. We screened seven herb extracts, and found very diverse results regarding their effect on sleep regulation. For instance, Panax notoginseng and Withania somnifera extracts displayed potent influence on total sleep time, while Melissa officinalis increased the number of sleep episodes. By comparing these treatments, we were able to rank drug potency in different aspects of sleep regulation. Notably, we also confirmed the presence of sleep difficulties in a Drosophila Alzheimer’s disease (AD) model with an overexpression of human Abeta, and recognized clear differences between the portfolios of drug screening effects in AD flies and in the control group. Overall, potential drug candidates and receipts for sleep problems can be identified separately for normal and AD Drosophila populations, outlining Drosophila’s potential in drug screening tests in other populations if combined with the use of other genetic disease tools.
Highlights
Health has long been associated with adequate sleep quality and sleep quantity: studies have shown that an average sleep duration of 7 hours per night is strongly correlated to an improvement in human health [1]
Three sensory stimulation-based approaches were tested in this study, including vibration-based discontinuous mechanical stimulation (DMS) and light interference-based discontinuous light stimulation (DLS) and daytime light-deprivation protocol (DD) protocols (Fig 1A, see Materials and Methods)
DMS and DLS were designed to model the effects of disturbance at night time, and DD models changing work shifts between day and night or shifting between time zones, mimicking jet lag in humans
Summary
Health has long been associated with adequate sleep quality and sleep quantity: studies have shown that an average sleep duration of 7 hours per night is strongly correlated to an improvement in human health [1]. Sleep problems affect nearly one in seven adults, especially individuals who regularly travel across time zones or have diseases including but not limited to Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia [2,3]. Melatonin is commonly used as a food supplement to treat jet lag related sleeping problems, but a number of studies have reported. Screening sleep assisting drugs with Drosophila model. International Collaborations (2017, 2018) from Science and Technology Bureau of Kunshan City
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