0023 Neuropeptidergic Regulation of Drosophila Larval Sleep

Abstract Introduction Sleep during early life is thought to be important for brain development. Indeed, disruptions in sleep during development have long-lasting effects on cognitive functioning. Recently, our lab has developed the LarvaLodge platform for monitoring sleep in developing Drosophila larvae. Using this system we can investigate the neural circuits and signals controlling sleep during early neurodevelopmental periods. Neuropeptides play critical roles in regulating many behaviors in both larvae and adult flies.While several neuropeptides modulate sleep in adult flies, it is not known what role neuropeptides play in controlling larval sleep. Methods To identify peptidergic neurons that regulate 2nd instar larval sleep, we activated neurons labeled by 34 independent Gal4 driver lines corresponding to 25 different neuropeptide genes using the heat-sensitive cation channel, TrpA1. Results Of the 34 Gal4 driver lines, we determined that 2 lines are wake-promoting and 7 lines are sleep-promoting. A subset of these exert effects on sleep without associated changes in wake activity levels. We also observed sleep fragmentation (increase in sleep bout number and decrease in sleep bout length) in 3 lines. Subsequent analysis indicated that manipulation of activity in Diuretic hormone 44 (Dh44)-labeled neurons bidirectionally modulates sleep-wake. Additionally, pan-neuronal knockdown of Dh44 altered sleep duration. Conclusion This work indicates that neuropeptidergic signaling modulates sleep during early development and provides a platform to examine how neuropeptidergic regulation of sleep/wake changes throughout the lifespan. Support NIH T32

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Early-life stress, microbiota, and brain development: probiotics reverse the effects of maternal separation on neural circuits underpinning fear expression and extinction in infant rats

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1016/j.dcn.2019.100627 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 37 ◽

pp. 100627 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Caitlin S.M. Cowan ◽

Anthea A. Stylianakis ◽

Rick Richardson

Keyword(s):

Brain Development ◽

Life Stress ◽

Early Life ◽

Maternal Separation ◽

Neural Circuits ◽

Early Life Stress ◽

Infant Rats ◽

Fear Expression

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Later sleep timing predicts accelerated summer weight gain among elementary school children: a prospective observational study

International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity ◽

10.1186/s12966-021-01165-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Jennette P. Moreno ◽

Javad Razjouyan ◽

Houston Lester ◽

Hafza Dadabhoy ◽

Mona Amirmazaheri ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Observational Study ◽

Sleep Duration ◽

Obesity Prevention ◽

Prospective Observational Study ◽

Light Exposure ◽

Activity Level ◽

Activity Levels ◽

School Year ◽

Children’S Sleep

Abstract Objectives and background Social demands of the school-year and summer environment may affect children’s sleep patterns and circadian rhythms during these periods. The current study examined differences in children’s sleep and circadian-related behaviors during the school-year and summer and explored the association between sleep and circadian parameters and change in body mass index (BMI) during these time periods. Methods This was a prospective observational study with 119 children ages 5 to 8 years with three sequential BMI assessments: early school-year (fall), late school-year (spring), and beginning of the following school-year in Houston, Texas, USA. Sleep midpoint, sleep duration, variability of sleep midpoint, physical activity, and light exposure were estimated using wrist-worn accelerometry during the school-year (fall) and summer. To examine the effect of sleep parameters, physical activity level, and light exposure on change in BMI, growth curve modeling was conducted controlling for age, race, sex, and chronotype. Results Children’s sleep midpoint shifted later by an average of 1.5 h during summer compared to the school-year. After controlling for covariates, later sleep midpoints predicted larger increases in BMI during summer, (γ = .0004, p = .03), but not during the school-year. Sleep duration, sleep midpoint variability, physical activity levels, and sedentary behavior were not associated with change in BMI during the school-year or summer. Females tended to increase their BMI at a faster rate during summer compared to males, γ = .06, p = .049. Greater amounts of outdoor light exposure (γ = −.01, p = .02) predicted smaller increases in school-year BMI. Conclusions Obesity prevention interventions may need to target different behaviors depending on whether children are in or out of school. Promotion of outdoor time during the school-year and earlier sleep times during the summer may be effective obesity prevention strategies during these respective times.

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Early Life Conditions and Cognitive Functioning in Later Life

American Journal of Epidemiology ◽

10.1093/aje/kwg263 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 158 (11) ◽

pp. 1083-1089 ◽

Cited By ~ 73

Author(s):

S. A. Everson-Rose

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Functioning ◽

Early Life ◽

Later Life ◽

Life Conditions ◽

Early Life Conditions

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Size at birth, lifecourse factors, and cognitive function in late life: findings from the MYsore study of Natal effects on Ageing and Health (MYNAH) cohort in South India

International Psychogeriatrics ◽

10.1017/s1041610221001186 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-14

Author(s):

Murali Krishna ◽

Ghattu V. Krishnaveni ◽

Veena Sargur ◽

Kalyanaraman Kumaran ◽

Mohan Kumar ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Birth Weight ◽

Cognitive Function ◽

Brain Development ◽

Educational Level ◽

Early Life ◽

South India ◽

Late Life ◽

Positive Effects ◽

Cardiometabolic Disorders ◽

Size At Birth

ABSTRACT Objective: To examine if smaller size at birth, an indicator of growth restriction in utero, is associated with lower cognition in late life, and whether this may be mediated by impaired early life brain development and/or adverse cardiometabolic programming. Design: Longitudinal follow-up of a birth cohort. Setting: CSI Holdsworth Memorial Hospital (HMH), Mysore South India. Participants: 721 men and women (55–80 years) whose size at birth was recorded at HMH. Approximately 20 years earlier, a subset (n = 522) of them had assessments for cardiometabolic disorders in mid-life. Measurements: Standardized measurement of cognitive function, depression, sociodemographic, and lifestyle factors; blood tests and assessments for cardiometabolic disorders Results: Participants who were heavier at birth had higher composite cognitive scores (0.12 SD per SD birth weight [95% CI 0.05, 0.19] p = 0.001) in late life. Other lifecourse factors independently positively related to cognition were maternal educational level and participants’ own educational level, adult leg length, body mass index, and socioeconomic position, and negatively were diabetes in mid-life and current depression and stroke. The association of birth weight with cognition was independent cardiometabolic risk factors and was attenuated after adjustment for all lifecourse factors (0.08 SD per SD birth weight [95% CI −0.01, 0.18] p = 0.07). Conclusions: The findings are consistent with positive effects of early life environmental factors (better fetal growth, education, and childhood socioeconomic status) on brain development resulting in greater long-term cognitive function. The results do not support a pathway linking poorer fetal development with reduced late life cognitive function through cardiometabolic programming.

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Targeting the gut microbiota to influence brain development and function in early life

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews ◽

10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.09.002 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 95 ◽

pp. 191-201 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Shugui Wang ◽

Louise Harvey ◽

Rocio Martin ◽

Eline M. van der Beek ◽

Jan Knol ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gut Microbiota ◽

Brain Development ◽

Early Life ◽

And Function

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Childhood infectious diseases and old age cognitive functioning: a nationally representative sample of community-dwelling older adults

International Psychogeriatrics ◽

10.1017/s1041610220001404 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-8

Author(s):

A. Rotstein ◽

S. Z. Levine

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Older Adults ◽

Infectious Diseases ◽

Cognitive Functioning ◽

Old Age ◽

Early Life ◽

Representative Sample ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Sensitivity Analyses ◽

Nationally Representative

ABSTRACT Background: Cumulative evidence suggests that health-related risk factors during midlife and old-age are associated with cognitive impairment. However, studies are needed to clarify the association between early-life risk factors and impaired cognitive functioning to increment existing knowledge. Objective: To examine the association between childhood infectious diseases and late-life cognitive functioning in a nationally representative sample of older adults. Participants: Eligible respondents were 2994 community-dwelling individuals aged 65–85. Measurements: Cognitive functioning was assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Childhood infectious diseases (i.e. chicken pox, measles, and mumps) were self-reported. The study covariates were age, sex, highest educational level achieved, smoking status, body mass index, and depression. The primary statistical analysis examined the association between the number of childhood infectious diseases and total MMSE scores, accounting for all study covariates. Regression models of progressive complexity were examined for parsimony. The robustness of the primary results was tested in 17 sensitivity analyses. Results: The most parsimonious model was a linear adjusted model (Bayesian Information Criterion = 12646.09). Late-life cognitive functioning significantly improved as the number of childhood infectious diseases increased (β = 0.18; 95% CI = 0.11, 0.26; p < 0.001). This effect was not significantly attenuated in all sensitivity analyses. Conclusion: The current study results are consistent with prior ecological findings indicating that some childhood infectious diseases are associated with better cognitive functioning in old-age. This points to an early-life modifiable risk factor associated with older-life cognitive functioning. Our results may reflect selective mortality and/or beneficial effects via hormetic processes.

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Habitual sleep is associated with both source memory and hippocampal subfield volume during early childhood

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-020-72231-z ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Tracy Riggins ◽

Rebecca M. C. Spencer

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Brain Development ◽

Sleep Duration ◽

Source Memory ◽

Memory Performance ◽

Memory Task ◽

Cognitive Networks ◽

The Body ◽

Developmental Changes ◽

Typically Developing

Abstract Previous research has established important developmental changes in sleep and memory during early childhood. These changes have been linked separately to brain development, yet few studies have explored their interrelations during this developmental period. The goal of this report was to explore these associations in 200 (100 female) typically developing 4- to 8-year-old children. We examined whether habitual sleep patterns (24-h sleep duration, nap status) were related to children’s performance on a source memory task and hippocampal subfield volumes. Results revealed that, across all participants, after controlling for age, habitual sleep duration was positively related to source memory performance. In addition, in younger (4–6 years, n = 67), but not older (6–8 years, n = 70) children, habitual sleep duration was related to hippocampal head subfield volume (CA2-4/DG). Moreover, within younger children, volume of hippocampal subfields varied as a function of nap status; children who were still napping (n = 28) had larger CA1 volumes in the body compared to children who had transitioned out of napping (n = 39). Together, these findings are consistent with the hypothesis that habitually napping children may have more immature cognitive networks, as indexed by hippocampal integrity. Furthermore, these results shed additional light on why sleep is important during early childhood, a period of substantial brain development.

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Nutrition and Brain Development in Early Life

Prenatal and Childhood Nutrition ◽

10.1201/b18040-6 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 79-126

Author(s):

Elizabeth Prado ◽

Kathryn Dewey

Keyword(s):

Brain Development ◽

Early Life

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Playing Analog Games Is Associated With Reduced Declines in Cognitive Function: A 68-Year Longitudinal Cohort Study

The Journals of Gerontology Series B ◽

10.1093/geronb/gbz149 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 75 (3) ◽

pp. 474-482 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Drew M Altschul ◽

Ian J Deary

Keyword(s):

Cohort Study ◽

Cognitive Function ◽

Social Class ◽

Cognitive Decline ◽

Early Life ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Activity Levels ◽

Health Issues ◽

Cognitive Speed

Abstract Objectives Playing analog games may be associated with better cognitive function but, to date, these studies have not had extensive longitudinal follow-up. Our goal was to examine the association between playing games and change in cognitive function from age 11 to age 70, and from age 70 to 79. Method Participants were 1,091 nonclinical, independent, community-dwelling individuals all born in 1936 and residing in Scotland. General cognitive function was assessed at ages 11 and 70, and hierarchical domains were assessed at ages 70, 73, 76, and 79 using a comprehensive cognitive battery of 14 tests. Games playing behaviors were assessed at ages 70 and 76. All models controlled for early life cognitive function, education, social class, sex, activity levels, and health issues. All analyses were preregistered. Results Higher frequency of playing games was associated with higher cognitive function at age 70, controlling for age 11 cognitive function, and the majority of this association could not be explained by control variables. Playing more games was also associated with less general cognitive decline from age 70 to age 79, and in particularly, less decline in memory ability. Increased games playing between 70 and 76 was associated with less decline in cognitive speed. Discussion Playing games were associated with less relative cognitive decline from age 11 to age 70, and less cognitive decline from age 70 to 79. Controlling for age 11 cognitive function and other confounders, these findings suggest that playing more games is linked to reduced lifetime decline in cognitive function.

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