Changes in gene expression

Loss of sleep is associated with profound changes in gene expression, studies of which have led to important implications regarding sleep functions and homeostatic regulation. In this article, we summarize findings from gene expression studies of sleep-deprived animals. We highlight five categories of genes that are consistently found to be differentially expressed across different studies, including activity-dependent immediate-early genes, genes involved in synaptic plasticity, metabolic genes, genes involved in inflammation, and circadian clock genes. We also provide a brief discussion of how expression changes in these genes are consistent with some of the leading hypotheses regarding the functions and homeostatic regulation of sleep.