Experimentos de privação de sono podem ser usados para desenvolver drogas para transtornos mentais
Ficar 24 horas sem dormir pode causar sintomas semelhantes aos da esquizofrenia, mesmo em pessoas saudáveis. A descoberta, publicada no periódico The Journal of Neuroscience na semana passada, pode ajudar no desenvolvimento de drogas para o tratamento da psicose - quadro em que o paciente confunde realidade com alucinações e delírios.
J Neurosci. 2014 Jul 2;34(27):9134-40.
Sleep deprivation disrupts prepulse inhibition and induces psychosis-like symptoms in healthy humans.
Petrovsky N, Ettinger U, Hill A, Frenzel L, Meyhöfer I, Wagner M, Backhaus J, Kumari V.
Abstract
Translational biomarkers, such as prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle response, are playing an increasingly important role in the development of antipsychotic drugs for schizophrenia and related conditions. However, attempts to reliably induce a PPI deficit by psychotomimetic drugs have not been successful, leaving an unmet need for a cross-species psychosis model sensitive to this widely studied surrogate treatment target. Sleep deprivation (SD) might be such a model as it has previously been shown to induce PPI deficits in rats, which could be selectively prevented with antipsychotic but not anxiolytic or antidepressant compounds. Here, in a first proof-of-concept study we tested whether SD induces a deficit in PPI and an increase in psychosis-like symptoms in healthy humans. In two counterbalanced sessions, acoustic PPI and self-reported psychosis-like symptoms (Psychotomimetic States Inventory) were measured in 24 healthy human volunteers after a normal night's sleep and after a night of total SD. SD decreased PPI (p = 0.001) without affecting the magnitude or habituation of the startle response (all p > 0.13). SD also induced perceptual distortions, cognitive disorganization, and anhedonia (all p < 0.02). Thus, extending previous rodent work, we conclude that SD, in combination with the PPI biomarker, might be a promising translational surrogate model for psychosis as this method represents a possibility to partially and reversibly mimic the pathogenesis of psychotic states.
Mais informações: http://www.jneurosci.org/content/34/27/9134.long
03 de março de 2016 às 15:17
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