Circadian rhythms and sleep articles within Nature Communications

Featured

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Autoreactive T cells are suspected to destroy hypocretin-producing neurons in narcolepsy. Here the authors detect CD8 T cells recognizing narcolepsy-related proteins in healthy individuals and in patients with narcolepsy, and show that the frequency of self-reactive CD8 T cells differs between patients and controls sharing the same HLA-II risk allele.

    • Natasja Wulff Pedersen
    • , Anja Holm
    •  & Birgitte Rahbek Kornum

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) synchronises daily rhythms of behaviour and physiology to the light-dark cycle. Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) is important for mediating SCN entrainment; however, the underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. Here, the authors show that the effects of VIP on the SCN are mediated by ERK1/2 and DUSP4.

    • Ryan Hamnett
    • , Priya Crosby
    •  & Michael H. Hastings

  • Article
    | Open Access

    GWAS have previously found 24 genomic loci associated with chronotype, an individual’s preference for early or late sleep timing. Here, the authors identify 327 additional loci in a sample of 697,828 individuals and further explore the relationships of chronotype with metabolic and psychiatric diseases.

    • Samuel E. Jones
    • , Jacqueline M. Lane
    •  & Michael N. Weedon

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The diagnosis of sleep disorders such as narcolepsy and insomnia currently requires experts to interpret sleep recordings (polysomnography). Here, the authors introduce a neural network analysis method for polysomnography that could reduce time spent in sleep clinics and automate narcolepsy diagnosis.

    • Jens B. Stephansen
    • , Alexander N. Olesen
    •  & Emmanuel Mignot

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The central circadian clock in Drosophila is made up of ~ 150 anatomically distributed neurons; the circuits underlying photoentrainment is unclear. This study describes ex vivo patch-clamp recording of the eye-mediated light response of all known circadian clock neurons, and shows that they are organized in parallel circuits centered around a hub.

    • Meng-Tong Li
    • , Li-Hui Cao
    •  & Dong-Gen Luo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Anatomical lesions of the preoptic area (POA) can cause sleep loss while electrical, chemical, or thermal stimulation of POA can induce sleep. To better understand the exact neural function of the POA, this study shows that galanin and GABA+ inhibitory neurons in the ventrolateral POA that project to the wake-promoting tuberomammillary nucleus promote sleep in a stimulation frequency dependent manner.

    • Daniel Kroeger
    • , Gianna Absi
    •  & Ramalingam Vetrivelan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The hippocampus is known to 'replay' experiences and memories during rest periods, but it is unclear how particular memories are prioritized for replay. Here, the authors show that information that is remembered less well is replayed more often, suggesting that weaker memories are selected for replay.

    • Anna C. Schapiro
    • , Elizabeth A. McDevitt
    •  & Kenneth A. Norman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Circadian rhythms are known to modulate memory, but it’s not known whether clock genes in the hippocampus are required for memory consolidation. Here, the authors show that epigenetic regulation of clock gene Period1 in the hippocampus regulates memory and contributes to age-related memory decline, independent of circadian rhythms.

    • Janine L. Kwapis
    • , Yasaman Alaghband
    •  & Marcelo A. Wood

  • Article
    | Open Access

    When tracking a moving object, our eyes make smooth pursuit movements; however, tracking an imaginary object produces jerky saccadic eye movements. Here, the authors show that during lucid dreams, the eyes smoothly follow dreamed objects. In this respect, dream imagery is more similar to perception than imagination.

    • Stephen LaBerge
    • , Benjamin Baird
    •  & Philip G. Zimbardo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Loneliness markedly increases mortality and morbidity, yet the factors triggering loneliness remain largely unknown. This study shows that sleep loss leads to a neurobehavioral phenotype of human social separation and loneliness, one that is transmittable to non-sleep-deprived individuals.

    • Eti Ben Simon
    •  & Matthew P. Walker

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sleep is important for memory consolidation but its role in reconsolidation is not known. Here, the authors show in starlings that an auditory memory consolidated by sleep can be destabilized by retrieval and impaired by subsequent interference, but the memory recovers and stabilizes after a night of sleep-dependent reconsolidation.

    • Timothy P. Brawn
    • , Howard C. Nusbaum
    •  & Daniel Margoliash

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Many genes have oscillating gene expression pattern in circadian centers of the brain. This study shows cortical diurnal DNA methylation oscillation in a mouse model of Prader-Willi syndrome, and describes corresponding changes in gene expression and chromatin compaction.

    • Rochelle L. Coulson
    • , Dag H. Yasui
    •  & Janine M. LaSalle

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Visual perception depends on light—which changes according to time of day—but the accompanying neural changes are unknown. Here, authors use fMRI to describe the brain dynamics underlying visual perception and find that sensory areas change their activity to compensate for lower light at dawn and dusk.

    • Lorenzo Cordani
    • , Enzo Tagliazucchi
    •  & Christian A. Kell

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) has been thought of as the master circadian clock, but peripheral circadian clocks do exist. Here, the authors show that the choroid plexus displays oscillations more robust than the SCN and that can be described as a Poincaré oscillator with negative twist.

    • Jihwan Myung
    • , Christoph Schmal
    •  & Toru Takumi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Loss of muscle tone is a distinguishing feature of paradoxical or REM sleep (PS) and is disrupted in REM sleep behavior disorder. Here the authors report that GABA/glycine inhibitory neurons in the ventromedial medulla are essential for producing PS muscle atonia without affecting PS quantity.

    • Sara Valencia Garcia
    • , Frédéric Brischoux
    •  & Patrice Fort

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Resting cortical activity fluctuates, but it is unclear what underlies these variations in activity. Here, the authors show that large-scale fluctuations in fMRI cortical activity are associated with momentary decreases in cortical arousal and opposite activity changes in the basal forebrain and thalamus.

    • Xiao Liu
    • , Jacco A. de Zwart
    •  & Jeff H. Duyn

  • Article
    | Open Access

    African sleeping sickness is well known for the alterations of sleeping patterns, but it is not known how circadian biology is altered by the causative pathogen Trypanosoma brucei. Here the authors show T. brucei causes a disorder of the cellular circadian clock that is unrelated to the immune response to the parasite.

    • Filipa Rijo-Ferreira
    • , Tânia Carvalho
    •  & Joseph S. Takahashi

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Circadian controls of immune responses by the molecular clock have been reported, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Here the authors show that the master circadian gene, Bmal1, is essential for modulating the homeostasis of myeloid cells to control pro-inflammatory IL-17+/IFN-γ+ T cells in autoimmunity.

    • Caroline E. Sutton
    • , Conor M. Finlay
    •  & Annie M. Curtis

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Circulating hormones undergo fluctuations during sleep. Here, the authors increase electroencephalographic slow oscillations (SO) during sleep in men using an auditory closed-loop stimulation, and show that the circulating level of cortisol, aldosterone and immune cell count can be altered.

    • Luciana Besedovsky
    • , Hong-Viet V. Ngo
    •  & Jan Born

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sleep in mammals comprises physiologically and functionally distinct stages. Here, the authors report a transitional sleep stage in Drosophila associated with 7–10 Hz oscillatory activity that can be obtained through activation of the sleep-promoting neurons of the dorsal fan-shaped body.

    • Melvyn H. W. Yap
    • , Martyna J. Grabowska
    •  & Bruno van Swinderen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Supramammillary nucleus (SuM) neurons have been studied in the context of REM sleep but their possible role in mediating wakefulness is not known. Here the authors elucidate the distinct functional contributions of three subpopulations in the SuM on electrographical and behavioral arousal in mice using genetically targeted approaches.

    • Nigel P. Pedersen
    • , Loris Ferrari
    •  & Patrick M. Fuller

  • Article
    | Open Access

    In addition to circadian and homoeostatic drives, motivational levels influence sleep−wake cycles. Here the authors demonstrate that adenosine receptor-expressing neurons in the nucleus accumbens core that project to the ventral pallidum are inhibited by motivational stimuli and are causally involved in the control of slow-wave sleep.

    • Yo Oishi
    • , Qi Xu
    •  & Michael Lazarus

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Different stages of sleep, marked by particular electroencephalographic (EEG) signatures, have been linked to memory consolidation, but underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, the authors show that dendritic calcium synchronisation correlates with spindle-rich sleep phases.

    • Julie Seibt
    • , Clément J. Richard
    •  & Matthew E. Larkum

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Slow oscillations between cortical Up and Down states are a defining feature of deep sleep, but their function is not well understood. Here the authors study Up/Down states in acute slices of entorhinal cortex, and find that Up states promote the weakening of subthreshold synaptic inputs, while suprathreshold inputs are preserved or strengthened.

    • Julian Bartram
    • , Martin C. Kahn
    •  & Edward O. Mann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Animal coloration and behavior can change seasonally, but it is unclear if visual sensitivity to color shifts as well. Here, Shimmura et al. show that medaka undergo seasonal behavioral change accompanied by altered expression of opsin genes, resulting in reduced visual sensitivity to mates during winter-like conditions.

    • Tsuyoshi Shimmura
    • , Tomoya Nakayama
    •  & Takashi Yoshimura

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Though memory and sleep are related, it is still unclear whether new memories can be formed during sleep. Here, authors show that people could learn new sounds during REM or light non-REM sleep, but that learning was suppressed when sounds were played during deep NREM sleep.

    • Thomas Andrillon
    • , Daniel Pressnitzer
    •  & Sid Kouider

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sleep patterns vary and are associated with health and disease. Here Purcellet alcharacterize sleep spindle activity in 11,630 individuals and describe age-related changes, genetic influences, and possible confounding effects, serving as a resource for further understanding the physiology of sleep.

    • S. M. Purcell
    • , D. S. Manoach
    •  & R. Stickgold

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The emergence of the adult fruit flies from the pupae is jointly regulated by the central and peripheral clocks. Selchoet al. show that synchronization of the two clocks is mediated by the master clock brain neurons producing sNPF, and non-clock PTTH neurons that regulate the peripheral clock producing the steroid moulting hormone, ecdysone.

    • Mareike Selcho
    • , Carola Millán
    •  & John Ewer

  • Article
    | Open Access

    During non-REM sleep, the thalamus produces spindles and the cortex produces downstates, but the interaction between these two areas in these sleep phenomena is not understood. Here, authors describe the dynamic loop between the thalamus and cortex that organizes the production of spindles and downstates in the human brain.

    • Rachel A. Mak-McCully
    • , Matthieu Rolland
    •  & Eric Halgren

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Deep sleep is hypothesized to restore the brain's capacity to learn. Here the authors provide causal evidence by specifically perturbing slow wave activity over the motor cortex during NREM sleep in humans and demonstrate a reduction in neurophysiological markers of plasticity and capacity for motor learning.

    • Sara Fattinger
    • , Toon T. de Beukelaar
    •  & Reto Huber

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Neuronal learning activity is reactivated during sleep but the dynamics of this reactivation in humans are still poorly understood. Here the authors show that memory processing occurs during all stages of sleep in humans but that reprocessing of memory content in REM and non-REM sleep has different effects on later memory performance.

    • M. Schönauer
    • , S. Alizadeh
    •  & S. Gais

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Episodic memory consolidation requires activity in hippocampal area CA1. Here the authors report that pharmacogenetic inhibition of CA1 PV+ interneuron firing after fear learning blocks memory consolidation and disrupts associated enhancement in network oscillations and stabilization of functional connectivity patterns.

    • Nicolette Ognjanovski
    • , Samantha Schaeffer
    •  & Sara J. Aton

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Diurnal and seasonal rhythms modulate brain function, but we do not know the genomic basis for these rhythms. Here, Limet al. show diurnal and seasonal rhythms of gene expression in the human brain, their relationship to histone acetylation and DNA methylation, and their disruption in Alzheimer’s disease.

    • Andrew S. P. Lim
    • , Hans-Ulrich Klein
    •  & Philip L. De Jager

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Accumulating evidence suggests that microRNAs play a role in circadian regulation. Here the authors show that in theDrosophila brain, mir-92a suppresses the excitability of PDF neurons—key circadian pacemaker cells in Drosophila—via inhibiting the translation of its target sirt2.

    • Xiao Chen
    •  & Michael Rosbash

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Disruption of circadian rhythms leads to reduced healthspan, but the mechanisms by which the normal clock protects aging organisms are not known. Here, the authors show that a subset of genes becomes more rhythmically expressed in older flies, and these are enriched for response to oxidative stress.

    • Rachael C. Kuintzle
    • , Eileen S. Chow
    •  & David A Hendrix

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It is not clear how circadian biochemical cascades are encoded into neural electrical signals. Here, using a combination of electrophysiology and modelling approaches in mice, the authors show activation of glycogen synthase kinase 3 modulates neural activity in the suprachiasmatic nuclei via regulation of the persistent sodium current, INaP.

    • Jodi R. Paul
    • , Daniel DeWoskin
    •  & Karen L. Gamble

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sleep need is thought to accumulate gradually over waking periods and is associated with changes in neuronal activity. Here the authors show that in mice cortical firing rates increase between the beginning and end of wakefulness periods but this increase is not seen in waking periods with voluntary stereotypic wheel running.

    • Simon P. Fisher
    • , Nanyi Cui
    •  & Vladyslav V. Vyazovskiy

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Neuropathic pain hypersensitivity is known to undergo diurnal variations, although the underlying mechanisms are not clear. Using a sciatic nerve-injury mouse model, the authors find such diurnal changes are mediated by glucocorticoid induced enhancement of ATP release from astrocytes via pannexin-1 hemichannels.

    • Satoru Koyanagi
    • , Naoki Kusunose
    •  & Shigehiro Ohdo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Learning and memory are subject to circadian variation, though the molecular mechanisms behind this are unclear. Here, the authors show SCOP, a regulator of hippocampal memory, undergoes circadian changes in CA1 membrane raft dynamics and contributes to time-dependent changes in long-term memory.

    • Kimiko Shimizu
    • , Yodai Kobayashi
    •  & Yoshitaka Fukada

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sleep deprivation is believed to lead to homeostatic increases in synaptic strength and reduced inducibility of associative LTP, based mainly on findings from animal studies. Here, Kuhn et al. demonstrate similar sleep-dependent synaptic plasticity changes in humans along with altered plasma BDNF levels.

    • Marion Kuhn
    • , Elias Wolf
    •  & Christoph Nissen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Whether and how birds sleep during long-distance flights has remained a mystery. Here, Rattenborg and colleagues show for the first time that frigatebirds can sleep during flight, but do so in remarkably small amounts.

    • Niels C Rattenborg
    • , Bryson Voirin
    •  & Alexei L. Vyssotski

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Cognitive performance is impaired after prolonged wakefulness, yet the contribution of circadian rhythms for proper brain function remains unclear. Here the authors show that cortical excitability measured using TMS exhibits robust circadian dynamics which is correlated with cognitive performance.

    • Julien Q. M. Ly
    • , Giulia Gaggioni
    •  & Gilles Vandewalle

Browse broader subjects

Browse narrower subjects

Browse Circadian rhythms and sleep across other nature.com journals