MK4MDD

Genetic/Epigenetic Locus Search Cross Data Search

Study Report

Reference

Citation	Brower, 2011 PubMed
Full Info	Brower, K.J., Hoffmann, R., Conroy, D.A., Arnedt, J.T. and Armitage, R. (2011) Sleep homeostasis in alcohol-dependent, depressed and healthy control men. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci, 261, 559-566.

Study

Hypothesis or Background	Visually scored and power spectral analyses (PSA) of polysomnography (PSG) recordings reveal abnormalities in alcohol dependence (AD) and major depressive disorder (MDD), including deficiencies in slow wave activity (SWA) during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. SWA parameters reflect the integrity of the homeostatic sleep drive, which have not been compared in those with AD or MDD.
Sample Information	Ten men with AD were compared with 10 men with MDD and 10 healthy controls (HCs), all aged 20-40 years.
Method Detail	They maintained an 11 pm to 6 am sleep schedule for 5-7 days, followed by 3 consecutive nights of PSG in the laboratory: night 1 for adaptation/screening; night 2 for baseline recordings; and night 3 as the challenge night, delaying sleep until 2 am. SWA was quantified with PSA across 4 NREM periods.
Method Keywords	electroencephalogram (EEG)
Result	Men with AD generated the least SWA at baseline. In response to sleep delay, HC men showed the expected SWA enhancement and a sharper exponential decline across NREM periods. Both the MDD and the AD groups showed a significantly blunted SWA response to sleep delay. Men with MDD had the least SWA in the first NREM period (impaired accumulation of sleep drive), whereas men with AD had the slowest SWA decay rate (impaired dissipation of sleep drive).
Conclusions	These results suggest that both SWA generation and its homeostatic regulation are impaired in men with either AD or MDD. Finding interventions that selectively improve these different components of sleep homeostasis should be a goal of treatment for AD and MDD.

Relationships reported by Brower, 2011