加州大学傅嫈惠教授：为什么有些人只需要较少睡眠，而不影响大脑功能

对于许多人来说，每天要得到充足的睡眠并不容易，但是有些人却天生不需要那么多睡眠，他们每天只睡眠四至六个小时，而对功能或记忆没有任何负面影响，这是为什么呢？

来自加州大学旧金山分校的傅嫈惠和Louis Ptácek等人对此展开了研究，他们发现一种基因的一个变异可能导致人类自然的睡眠时间短，也似乎减少了小鼠的睡眠需求。

这一研究发现公布在10月16日的Science Translational Medicine杂志上。

这个基因就是NPSR1基因，研究人员在一个短睡眠家庭的两个人中发现了NPSR1基因的突变。 NPSR1编码与神经肽S结合的受体，该神经肽S在大脑中发现，与调节睡眠有关。

之后，研究小组培育了具有相同NPSR1突变的小鼠，发现与野生型小鼠相比，这些动物的睡眠更少，活动性更高。尽管睡眠较少，它们在记忆力测试中的表现也一样好。 这些“Short sleeper”小鼠的眼动快速阶段和非快速眼动阶段均减少。

带有NPSR1变异的人的睡眠时间往往比平均时间少2-4小时，而实验小鼠的睡眠时间要少71分钟。小鼠睡眠比人类睡眠更加分散，不会像人类那样在合并发作中发生。这些差异可能是由于人与小鼠之间不同的睡眠调节机制导致的，导致由相同基因突变引起的不同表型。

了解傅教授研究组更多信息，请参看：
http://www.neuroscience.ucsf.edu/neurograd/faculty/fu.html

Ying-Hui Fu, PhD
Professor
EDUCATION
1976-1980 National Chung-Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan, B.S., Food Science 1981-1986 Ohio State University, Ph.D., Biochemistry & Molecular Biology 1987-1989 Ohio State University, Postdoc, Molecular Biology 1990-1993 Baylor College of Medicine, Postdoc, Human Genetics
HONORS AND AWARDS
2006 Sleep Science Award, American Academy of Neurology 2006 Bauer Foundation Colloquium Distinguished Guest, Brandeis University, Boston, MA 2008 Distinguished Guest, Bollum Symposium, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 2009 Distinguished visiting professorship, Tamkang University, Taiwan

Overview
Dr. Fu’s research uses human genetics combined with multiple model organisms to investigate molecular mechanisms of human conditions. Her laboratory has been focusing on two areas: one in myelin biology and the other in circadian rhythm and sleep behaviors. For myelin biology, they investigate the interlocking networks of protein-coding genes and non-coding RNAs in ensuring a healthy myelin. For circadian and sleep behaviors, over the last 15 years, she and her colleagues identified several mutations that lead to extreme morning lark phenotype. In addition, they are investigating the genetic basis for human subjects to have shorter sleep duration. Since circadian rhythm and sleep homeostasis are intimately connected with many physiological pathways including metabolism, immune function, and mood regulation, to name but a few, these studies will also shed new light on how sleep schedule and sleep homeostasis can impact our health.