The effect of acute sleep deprivation on skeletal muscle protein synthesis and the hormonal environment
Séverine Lamon, bioRxiv 2020
Sleep loss has profound, negative consequences on human tissues including skeletal muscle. Animal and human models suggest that acute and chronic sleep loss may directly impair muscle protein metabolism, which is critical to maintain muscle mass and function over the lifespan. This study aimed at providing a proof-of-concept that sleep deprivation acutely decreases muscle protein synthesis in humans. To this end, thirteen young males and females experienced one night of total sleep deprivation or slept normally at home.
Anabolic and catabolic hormonal profiles, muscle fractional synthesis rate and markers of muscle protein degradation were assessed across the following day. In the sleep-deprived condition, cortisol release was 21% higher over a six-hour period (p=0.030). One night of complete sleep deprivation was however not sufficient to elicit significant changes in testosterone release (p=0.090) and muscle protein synthesis rates (p=0.081). Apparent sex-specific differences prompt the need for further dedicated investigations into the specific effects of total sleep deprivation on muscle protein metabolism in males and females.