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	Podcast:		UC Science Today
	Episode:		A biological process that links sleep and depression
	Category:		Science & Medicine
	Duration:		00:01:01
	Publish Date:		2016-04-19 00:00:00
	Description:		Researchers have never identified a biological process linking sleep and depression – until now. Study leader Louis Ptacek and his team at the University of California, San Francisco found a gene mutation in a family suffering from both a chronic sleep disorder and seasonal depression. The team engineered mice and fly models with the genetic mutation to see how changes in light exposure, or the length of daylight, affected behavior. "And since we had generated the animal models of the human mutation and showed that they have a circadian phenotype, we tested whether they had a depression-like phenotype." It turns out that extreme changes in light exposure, such as that caused by very short days, elicited depression-like behavior in mice. Although animal models cannot be directly extended to humans, Ptacek says the study suggests a mechanism behind these disorders in people. "Part of our mission moving forward is to really push the notion that we can improve health through better sleep."
	Total Play:		0