Why’re too sleepy when we’re sick?

It is known that people and animals feel fatigue and sleepy when they are sick, but the filamentary explain how…
this is the case, supports a study by researchers from the Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania. The study, published in eLife, reveals the mechanism of this sleepiness.
Analyzing the simple nervous system of this worm, the scientists found that a single nerve cell, called ALA is coordinating the response to the disease. When someone is ill, the cells are subject to stress and the body needs sleep in order that cellular stress is reduced. The worm, that the drowsiness induced by the neuron FLP-13 of the ALA and of other neuropeptides, a group of chemicals that send signals between neurons in the brain.
“Sleep is vital to help both people and animals recover in the course of the disease,” notes the study’s author, associate professor of Neurology, member of the Centre for Sleep and Κιρκάδιας Neurobiology, David M. Raizen, MD, PhD.
“A similar signaling should exist in both humans and other animals to regulate sleep during the illness. These findings create a fertile ground for future research on the mechanisms that cause drowsiness when we are sick”.
These findings reveal that the FLP-13 induces sleep by reducing the activity in the cells of the nervous system that keep you awake the body. The researchers examined and genetic mutations to identify which genes make the worms to sleep when it is released in the FLP-13. The analysis showed that worms with mutations, there is a protein called DMSR-1 on the surface of cells and do not sleep αταποκρινόμενοι in the FLP-13. This shows that the DMSR-1 is necessary in order for FLP-13 in order to induce sleep.
The coming experiments will aim at whether the drowsiness is due to the disease in humans and in other mammals is caused through a similar mechanism. If that’s the case, this research might be a step towards the development of drugs for the treatment of fatigue associated with the disease and with other factors.
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