Insomnia impairs muscle function via regulating protein degradation and muscle clock

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that insomnia impairs muscle function by increasing protein degradation and disrupting muscle clock gene expression, leading to decreased muscle mass and strength in both humans and mice.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the molecular mechanisms linking insomnia to muscle deterioration, highlighting the roles of protein degradation factors and muscle clock gene dysregulation.

Findings

Insomnia patients have lower BMI and grip strength.

Sleep deprivation in mice reduces muscle mass and body weight.

Increased expression of muscle degradation factors observed in sleep-deprived mice.

Abstract

Background: Insomnia makes people more physically unable of doing daily duties, which results in a lack of strength, leads to lacking in strength. However, the effects of insomnia on muscle function have not yet been thoroughly investigated. So, the objectives of this study were to clarify how insomnia contributes to the decrease of muscular function and to investigate the mechanisms behind this phenomenon. Methods: To understand how insomnia influence muscle function, we analyzed the expression level of factors associated with muscle protein degradation, muscle protein synthesis , protein synthesis and degradation pathways and muscle clock. Results: The results showed that lower BMI and grip strength were observed in insomnia patients. The mice in the sleep deprivation(SD) group saw a 7.01 g loss in body mass. The SD group's tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius muscle mass decreased after 96 h of SD). The grip strength reduced in SD group. Using the RT-PCR approaches, we found a significant increase in muscle degradation factors expression in SD group versus normal control group. Conclusions: Insomnia can impair muscle function. The mechanism may be associated with the increased expression of muscle degradation related factors , as well as the abnormal expression of Clock gene.