Build immune system memory by deep sleep, say experts
Posted on: 01/Oct/2015 11:34:42 AM
Researchers at the University of Tuebingen in Germany have said that the immune system`s memory of an encounter with a virus or bacteria can be strengthened with deep sleep. This will help the body react quickly to previously known infections. While it has been known for a long time that sleep supports long-term memory formation in the psychological domain, the idea that long-term memory formation is a function of sleep effective in all organismic systems is in our view entirely new, says one of the researchers.
According to their study, which was published in the journal Trends in Neurosciences, the immune system collects fragments from the bacteria or virus and creates a cell called the memory T cells. These can last for many months and even years. If we didn`t sleep, then the immune system might focus on the wrong parts of the pathogen. For example, many viruses can easily mutate some parts of their proteins to escape from immune responses. If too few antigen-recognising cells (the cells that present the fragments to T cells) are available, then they might all be needed to fight off the pathogen. In addition to this, there is evidence that the hormones released during sleep benefit the crosstalk between antigen-presenting and antigen-recognising cells, and some of these important hormones could be lacking without sleep... Future research should examine what information is selected during sleep for storage in long-term memory, and how this selection is achieved. In order to design effective vaccines against HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis, which are based on immunological memory, the correct memory model must be available... It is our hope that by comparing the concepts of neuronal and immunological memory, a model of immunological memory can be developed which integrates the available experimental data and serves as a helpful basis for vaccine development, they said.
