Pannexin 1 Transgenic Mice: Human Diseases and Sleep-Wake Function Revision.

In humans and other vertebrates pannexin protein family was discovered by homology to invertebrate gap junction proteins. Several biological functions were attributed to three vertebrate pannexins members. Six clinically significant independent variants of the gene lead to human infertility and oocyte development defects, and the Arg217His variant was associated with pronounced symptoms of primary ovarian failure, severe intellectual disability, sensorineural hearing loss, and kyphosis.

Total Wake: Natural, Pathological, and Experimental Limits to Sleep Reduction.

Sleep is not considered a pathological state, but it consumes a third of conscious human life. This share is much more than most optimistic life extension forecasts that biotechnologies or experimental and medical interventions can offer. Are there insurmountable physical or biological limitations to reducing the duration of sleep? How far can it be avoided without fatal consequences? What means can reduce the length of sleep? It is widely accepted that sleep is necessary for long-term survival.

Motor Activity and "Neotenic" Sleep in the Naked Mole Rat (Heterocephalus glaber) under Isolation.

For the first time, continuous registration of motor activity and electroencephalogram for 40 days was carried out in four individuals of the naked mole rat (Heterocephalus glaber) in isolated conditions in the laboratory. A clear circadian rhythm of motor activity was found, with a gradual decrease during the night and an increase during the day, which remained both in the 12L/12D mode and in conditions of complete darkness. The rest states occupied, on average, about half the time of the day.

[D-lactate as a novel somnogenic factor?].

Objective: To evaluate an influence of intracerebral L-lactate concentration on sleep-wake cycle.

Material And Methods: Twenty adult male white rats preliminary implanted (under general anesthesia) with the electrodes for neocortical EEG and a single cannula to a lateral ventricle were used as subjects. A 5 µl bolus of either saline or a solution of sodium L- or D-lactate (0.