Mice y flies can sleep peacefully thanks to the effects of a diet rich in protein, explains a group of scientists in a publication of the specialized magazine Cell. In the case of humans, the influence should be studied, but it is still an important factor.
Proteins, explains the Genome portal, are large, complex molecules vital “for most of the jobs that cells do and are necessary to maintain the structure, function and regulation of the tissues and organs of the body”.
“A protein is made up of one or more long, folded chains of amino acids (each called a polypeptide), whose sequences are determined by the DNA sequence of the gene that codes for the protein”.
According to researchers at Harvard Medical School, protein consumption decreases the excitability of mice and flies. It is explained by the neuroscientist Iris Titos, based on the objectives of the study.
“(The team wanted) to understand how we tune out all sensory information when we’re sleeping,” says Titos, quoted by The Scientist. Previous research pointed to a strong genetic component, which has been revised.
The importance of the CCHa1 neuropeptide in good sleep in mice and flies
Of 3,400 fly genes, 160 influenced hypo or hyperactive flies, including a neuropeptide and its receptor. There the scientists focused.
The neuropeptide CCHa1 It is synthesized both in the brain and in the intestine. Removing it from this last area was enough to increase the arousal capacity of the flies.
Their finding was that a diet supplemented with a protein mix increased CCHa1 levels in the fly’s gut. making them less sensitive to vibrations while they slept.
On the contrary, supplementation with sugar and fats did not affect any of the measures, according to The Scientist.
The CCHa1 is received by a subset of dopaminergic neurons in the brain that modulate responsiveness to vibrations.
In the case of mice, it was shown that a protein-enriched diet it makes them harder to wake up in response to mechanical vibrations. The researchers are not clear if the mechanism is the same as in flies.
Dragana Rogulja, who led the Harvard study, noted that it is “a phenomenon similar to that of flies, but we still don’t know if they are the same molecules.”