NPAS2 As a Transcriptional Regulator of Non-Rapid Eye Movement Sleep: Genotype and Sex Interactions
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NPAS2 as a transcriptional regulator of non-rapid eye movement sleep: Genotype and sex interactions Paul Franken*†‡, Carol A. Dudley§, Sandi Jo Estill§, Monique Barakat*, Ryan Thomason¶, Bruce F. O’Hara¶, and Steven L. McKnight‡§ §Department of Biochemistry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390; *Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305; ¶Department of Biology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506; and †Center for Integrative Genomics, University of Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne-Dorigny, Switzerland Contributed by Steven L. McKnight, March 13, 2006 Because the transcription factor neuronal Per-Arnt-Sim-type sig- delta frequency range is a sensitive marker of time spent awake (4, nal-sensor protein-domain protein 2 (NPAS2) acts both as a sensor 7) and local cortical activation (8) and is therefore widely used as and an effector of intracellular energy balance, and because sleep an index of NREMS need and intensity. is thought to correct an energy imbalance incurred during waking, The PAS-domain proteins, CLOCK, BMAL1, PERIOD-1 we examined NPAS2’s role in sleep homeostasis using npas2 (PER1), and PER2, play crucial roles in circadian rhythm gener- knockout (npas2؊/؊) mice. We found that, under conditions of ation (9). The NPAS2 paralog CLOCK, like NPAS2, can induce the increased sleep need, i.e., at the end of the active period or after transcription of per1, per2, cryptochrome-1 (cry1), and cry2. PER and sleep deprivation (SD), NPAS2 allows for sleep to occur at times CRY proteins, in turn, inhibit CLOCK- and NPAS2-induced when mice are normally awake. Lack of npas2 affected electroen- transcription, thereby closing a negative-feedback loop that is cephalogram activity of thalamocortical origin; during non-rapid thought to underlie circadian rhythm generation. Although per1 eye movement sleep (NREMS), activity in the spindle range (10–15 and per2 expression are widely used as molecular state variables of Hz) was reduced, and within the delta range (1–4 Hz), activity the circadian clock, their expression in the cerebral cortex is driven shifted toward faster frequencies. In addition, the increase in the by the sleep–wake distribution and can dissociate from its strict cortical expression of the NPAS2 target gene period2 (per2) after circadian expression in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN; re- SD was attenuated in npas2؊/؊ mice. This implies that NPAS2 viewed in refs. 10 and 11). Because npas2Ϫ/Ϫ mice lack rhythmic importantly contributes to the previously documented wake-de- per2 expression in the cortex despite intact circadian sleep–wake pendent increase in cortical per2 expression. The data also revealed rhythms (12), NPAS2 seems essential in coupling cortical per2 numerous sex differences in sleep; in females, sleep need accumu- expression to the sleep–wake distribution. This suggests a noncir- lated at a slower rate, and REMS loss was not recovered after SD. cadian role of clock genes in sleep regulation (10), which is In contrast, the rebound in NREMS time after SD was compromised supported by several knockout (KO) studies; altered homeostatic only in npas2؊/؊ males. We conclude that NPAS2 plays a role in regulation of sleep has been reported in fruit flies lacking a sleep homeostasis, most likely at the level of the thalamus and functional cycle gene (the fly homologue of bmal1) (13), in mice cortex, where NPAS2 is abundantly expressed. lacking both cry genes (11) or bmal1 (14), and in clock-mutant mice (15). circadian ͉ clock genes ͉ metabolism ͉ sleep homeostasis We propose that NPAS2 is functionally implicated in sleep homeostasis at a cellular level. We have already reported that, Ϫ/Ϫ euronal Per-Arnt-Sim-type signal-sensor protein (PAS)- under baseline conditions, npas2 mice sleep less during the late active period (16). Here we further test this hypothesis by subjecting Ndomain protein 2 (NPAS2) is a transcription factor that is Ϫ Ϫ / highly expressed in the CNS (1). Many PAS-domain proteins can npas2 (i.e., KO) mice and their littermate controls (i.e., WT) to sense oxygen, redox, voltage, or light and are implicated in envi- a SD. We also determine whether NPAS2 is involved in coupling ronmental and developmental signaling pathways (2). NPAS2 waking to cortical per2 expression. Finally, the extensive dataset senses cellular energy state, in that both the dimerization of NPAS2 presented here gave us the opportunity to identify the sparsely to its obligatory partner brain and muscle arnt-like 1 (BMAL1) and studied sex effects on sleep. Apart from striking genotype and sex the specific DNA binding of NPAS2:BMAL1 heterodimers depend differences in sleep regulation, we discovered equally striking on intracellular redox potential (3). NPAS2 can also affect cellular genotype–sex interactions. metabolism by activating transcription of lactate dehydrogenase-1 Results (ldh1), which encodes the LDH subunit A (3). LDH catalyzes the Sleep Time Is Reduced in Mice Lacking NPAS2. Like WT mice, reduction of pyruvate to lactate, an important neuronal energy Ϫ/Ϫ substrate. NPAS2 thus uniquely combines sensor and effector npas2 mice were mostly asleep during the light period and functions and might be an important regulator of cellular metab- mostly awake during the dark period (Fig. 1). The amount and olism in the CNS. distribution of wakefulness during the dark period, however, dif- fered markedly from WT. The initial sustained period of wakeful- Sleep is governed by both circadian and homeostatic processes Ϸ Ϯ Ϯ ϭ (4). The notion of the homeostatic regulation of sleep is based on ness was 1 h longer in KO mice (7.0 0.5 vs. 5.9 0.3 h; P the observation that sleep loss is compensated by an increase in 0.026, t test; Fig. 1), thereby delaying the occurrence of the typical night-time ‘‘nap.’’ Moreover, KO mice had fewer subsequent sleep time and intensity that is proportional to the sleep time lost. Ϯ Ϯ ϭ Such observations indicate that a need for sleep accumulates during waking bouts (2.8 0.2 vs. 3.6 0.2; P 0.019), whereas average waking, although the nature of this need, i.e., the neurophysiolog- ical function of sleep, remains unknown. One prominent hypothesis Conflict of interest statement: No conflicts declared. states that sleep corrects a metabolic imbalance imposed upon the Abbreviations: REMS, rapid eye movement sleep; NREMS, non-REMS; EEG, electroenceph- brain during wakefulness (5). This imbalance is thought to result in alogram; EMG, electromyogram; SD, sleep deprivation; SCN, suprachiasmatic nucleus; ZT, increased hyperpolarization of thalamocortical and cortical neu- Zeitgeber time; KO, knockout. rons during non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREMS) that, at the ‡To whom correspondence may be addressed. E-mail: [email protected] or steven. level of the electroencephalogram (EEG), is reflected by more [email protected]. prevalent delta (1- to 4-Hz) oscillations (6). EEG activity in the © 2006 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA 7118–7123 ͉ PNAS ͉ May 2, 2006 ͉ vol. 103 ͉ no. 18 www.pnas.org͞cgi͞doi͞10.1073͞pnas.0602006103 Downloaded by guest on September 25, 2021 Table 2. Listing of significant sex differences in sleep Sleep variable Males Females P Length of rest period, h 11.2 Ϯ 0.3 11.5 Ϯ 0.3 0.0054 NREMS amount, min͞24 h 544 Ϯ 9 516 Ϯ 10 0.042 No. of short NREMS episodes, 46 Ϯ 254Ϯ 2 0.021 Ͻ1 min No. of NREMS-to-REMS transitions 3.6 Ϯ 0.2 5.0 Ϯ 0.3 0.0005 NREMS delta power, 1–4 Hz 5.46 Ϯ 0.15 5.96 Ϯ 0.08 0.0087 NREMS sigma power, 10–15 Hz 1.11 Ϯ 0.03 0.97 Ϯ 0.03 0.0058 REMS delta power, 1–4 Hz 1.25 Ϯ 0.03 1.01 Ϯ 0.04 Ͻ0.0001 REMS sigma power, 10–15 Hz 0.48 Ϯ 0.01 0.43 Ϯ 0.01 0.0056 Waking theta power, 5–10 Hz 1.03 Ϯ 0.04 0.86 Ϯ 0.02 0.0005 REMS rebound, ⌬ min vs. baseline ϩ16 Ϯ 2 ϩ6 Ϯ 3 0.0070 Time constant of S increase, h 8.4 Ϯ 0.8 11.1 Ϯ 0.8 0.0039 Indicated are mean (ϮSEM) values for males (n ϭ 22) and females (n ϭ 16) of both genotypes. Except for the bottom two rows, all variables are obtained during the 2 baseline days. The number of short NREMS episodes and NREM– REMS transitions is expressed per hour of NREMS. Mean EEG power in fre- quency bands is expressed as percentage of average total EEG power (see Methods, see also Fig. 2). P values are derived from post hoc t tests. Activity in the sigma range (10–15 Hz), a marker of lighter stages of NREMS, was reduced in npas2Ϫ/Ϫ mice (Fig. 2). NREMS-to- REMS transitions, which are preceded by a surge in sigma power Fig. 1. Sleep–wake distribution during baseline. (A) Examples of wake (17), might have contributed to this EEG difference. Similar to the distribution in baseline for two mice (no. 3487, WT female; no. 1220, KO male). absolute values (Fig. 3), the surge in sigma power at the transitions Black area depicts percent wakefulness in 5-min intervals. Note the highly was smaller in KO mice (Fig. 8, which is published as supporting regular occurrence of sustained waking bouts during the rest period. Perio- information on the PNAS web site). Therefore, because genotype dogram analysis revealed a significant 128-min periodicity in all individuals. differences in sigma activity at NREM-to-REMS transitions did Ultradian sleep–wake patterns of such periodicity have not been described previously. (B) Genotype comparison of the accumulation of sleep time in not surpass the differences observed in the overall sigma activity, baseline.