A research group led by Professor Masanori Nakamura and Professor Akiko Tamakoshi of Hokkaido University Graduate School has shown that the shorter the sleep time of a person, the lower the amount of alpha-defensin secreted in the small intestine. It was first clarified that there is a correlation with the decrease in
Lack of sleep is known to be a risk factor for many diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, depression and dementia.In recent years, it has been shown that sleep deprivation induces disruption of the gut microbiota, and that disruption of the gut microbiota is associated with increased disease risk.However, the mechanism by which sleep deprivation affects the composition of the human gut microbiota has been unclear until now.
The research group used the sleep recordings of 35 middle-aged and elderly healthy people living in Hokkaido and the stool samples they received to study sleep and alpha-defensin (an antibacterial peptide that acts on intestinal innate immunity) from Paneth cells in the small intestine. ), the intestinal flora, and their metabolites were analyzed in detail.
As a result, it was found that the shorter the sleep time, the lower the α-defensin secretion.It was also revealed that this is involved in the breakdown of the intestinal flora and the reduction of short-chain fatty acids such as acetic acid and butyric acid, which are bacterial metabolites important for the function of the immune system, during sleep deprivation.
This study indicates that sleep deprivation-associated α-defensin reduction may be involved in changes in the composition of the intestinal microbiota, which is known to be associated with increased disease risk. For the first time, the influence of the brain-gut interaction via the plexus was clarified.In the future, the development of preventive methods and novel therapeutic methods for sleep disorders that target the secretion induction of α-defensin is expected.
