Gillin Jc

Partial sleep deprivation reduces natural killer cell activity in humans.

&NA; Sleep disturbance, measured by either subjective report or electroencephalographic (EEG) assessment of sleep, correlates with a reduction of natural killer (NK) cell activity in major depression. To test whether sleep loss independent of mood disturbance alters daytime values of cellular immune function, the effect of late‐night partial sleep deprivation on NK cell activity was studied in 23 medically and psychiatrically healthy male volunteers. After a night of sleep deprivation between 3 and 7 AM, NK cell activity was reduced in 18 of the 23 subjects with average lytic activity reduced significantly (p < .01) to a level 72% of the mean of three separate baseline values. After a night of resumed nocturnal sleep, NK cell activity had returned to baseline levels. These data implicate sleep in the modulation of natural immunity and demonstrate that even modest disturbances of sleep produce a reduction of NK cell activity.

Electroencephalographic sleep and natural killer activity in depressed patients and control subjects.

&NA; Insomnia is associated with a reduction of natural killer (NK) activity in depression independent of the severity of other depressive symptoms. This study extends these findings by exploring the relationship between objective electroencephalographic (EEG) assessment of sleep and values of NK activity in depressed patients (n = 23) and in control subjects (n = 17). The sleep EEG parameters total sleep time, sleep efficiency, and duration of nonREM sleep were each positively correlated with NK activity in the depressed patients and in the control subjects, demonstrating similar relationships between the amount of sleep and NK activity in the separate groups. These observations support the hypothesis that sleep measures are associated with NK cytotoxicity, independent of the effects of severity of depressive symptoms or the presence of a mood disorder.

Monoamine oxidase, phenylethylamine, norepinephrine and schizophrenia.

The chain of events from decreased MAO activity in the peripheral blood of certain schizophrenic patients, particularly paranoid patients, to in creased concentrations of PEA, to increased NE and NE turnover in the brain of schizophrenic patients, may prove not to be as closely linked as the current hypothesis and available data suggest. Nevertheless, the notion that this chain exists is testable and provides an integrated hypothesis of etiology for a subgroup of schizophrenic patients.