| Sleep deprivation (SD) is a prevalent issue in modern society and negatively affects cognitive function. One hypothesized cellular mechanism of cognitive plasticity is hippocampal neurogenesis. Long intervals of SD robustly reduce hippocampal neurogenesis, though the effects of shorter intervals of SD are unclear, possibly due to variation in SD methods and BrdU administration paradigms. We assessed the effects of 6, 12, 24, 36, and 48 h SD on hippocampal cell proliferation using a 2 h BrdU paradigm and expression of the intrinsic cell cycle markers Ki67 and PCNA. BrdU labeling was significantly increased after 12 h SD (p=0.002) and tended to be reduced after 48 h SD (p=0.065), though no significant changes were observed with Ki67 or PCNA. The divergent effects of SD on different cell cycle markers indicate that SD initially accelerates cell proliferation and likely later slows cell proliferation rather than changing the total progenitor number. |
