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ScienceDaily: Second Sleep Gene Identified

ScienceDaily: Second Sleep Gene Identified

Science Daily — A gene that controls the flow of potassium into cells is required to maintain normal sleep in fruit flies, according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH). Hyperkinetic (Hk) is the second gene identified by the SMPH group to have a profound effect on sleep in flies.

The finding supports growing evidence that potassium channels--found in humans and fruit flies alike--play a critical role in generating sleep.

"Without potassium channels, you don't get slow waves, the oscillations shown by groups of neurons across the brain that are the hallmark of deep sleep," says Chiara Cirelli, SMPH psychiatry professor and senior author on the latest study, which appeared in the May 16, 2007, Journal of Neuroscience.

The researchers are searching for compounds that could regulate the small Hk gene and thereby modulate the amount of potassium that enters cells-control that could help people avoid insomnia or stay alert.

Cirelli and her colleagues believe that the new fly findings have clear and strong implications for human sleep since all mammals have similar potassium-controlling genes.
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