The effect of sleep deprivation on empathy for pain: An ERP study

Sleep deprivation modulates pain sensitivity through alterations in lncRNA and mRNA expression in the nucleus accumbens and ventral midbrain

Sleep deprivation (SD) is a growing public health concern with implications for pain sensitivity and well-being. Although the relationship between sleep and pain is well understood, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. This study investigates how SD influences pain sensitivity by modulating gene expression in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and ventral tegmental area (VTA) of mice. Using the CPW sleep deprivation model, mice were deprived of sleep for three days, simulating preoperative conditions. Behavioral tests revealed heightened mechanical and thermal hypersensitivity post-SD. Brain MRI, immunofluorescence, and RNA sequencing analyses showed significant changes in the expression of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) and mRNAs in NAc and VTA, implicating several pain-related genes. Functional enrichment analysis highlighted pathways associated with neurotransmission, inflammation, and stress response. The study identified Hcrt and Apoe as critical modulators of SD-induced hyperalgesia, with potential therapeutic implications for managing pain associated with SD. Findings suggest that overlapping pathways exist between sleep and pain sensitivity, offering insights into the molecular mechanisms that connect sleep disorders with heightened pain responses.

Predictive effects of daily sleep on social motivation and social activity

This study examined the predictive effect of day-to-day variations in sleep on self-reported social motivation and social activity in 126 parents of young children with sleep problems. Controlling for other sleep factors, worse subjective sleep quality predicted less morning sociability and social motivation throughout the day. Unexpectedly, longer sleep duration predicted less social activity the following day. Sleepiness at wakeup predicted morning sociability, but not social motivation or activity throughout the day. This highlights the importance of good sleep quality for motivation to socialize, but also the complexity of investigating the relationship between sleep and social measures in daily life.

A resting-state EEG dataset for sleep deprivation

To investigate the impact of sleep deprivation (SD) on mood, alertness, and resting-state electroencephalogram (EEG), we present an eyes-open resting-state EEG dataset. The dataset comprises EEG recordings and cognitive data from 71 participants undergoing two testing sessions: one involving SD and the other normal sleep. In each session, participants engaged in eyes-open resting-state EEG. The Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT) was employed for alertness measurement. Emotional and sleepiness were measured using Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) and Stanford Sleepiness Scale (SSS). Additionally, to examine the influence of individual sleep quality and traits on SD, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ) were utilized. This dataset's sharing may contribute to open EEG measurements in the field of SD.

Altered neurophysiological responses during empathy for pain in insomnia: evidence from an EEG study in non-clinical samples

BACKGROUND

This study aims to investigate the behavioral and neurophysiological changes accompanying the empathy for pain among individuals with insomnia in nonclinical samples, which has been scarcely explored in the existing literature despite the deleterious effects of sleep disturbance on social behavior, and interactions had been well-documented.

METHODS

Twenty-one individuals with insomnia in nonclinical samples and 20 healthy individuals as normal controls participated in the study. Electroencephalograph (EEG) was continuously recorded, while the participants underwent an empathy for pain task.

RESULTS

Subjective ratings of pain for painful and non-painful images revealed no statistically significant differences between the insomnia and control groups. The painful images induced a smaller P2 compared to non-painful images in the insomnia group, whereas no such difference was revealed for the controls. Moreover, a higher power density of the alpha and theta2 bands in the posterior brain regions was found in the insomnia group compared to the control group.

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest that individuals with insomnia exhibit altered neurophysiological responses to pain stimuli and a lower capacity to share empathy for pain. These alterations may be associated with changes in attentional mechanisms.

Sex-dependent and long-lasting effects of adolescent sleep deprivation on social behaviors in adult mice

Increasing evidence indicates that sleep deprivation (SD) can exert multiple negative effects on neuronal circuits, resulting in memory impairment, depression, and anxiety, among other consequences. The long-term effects of SD during early life on behavioral phenotypes in adulthood are still poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the long-lasting effects of SD in adolescence on social behaviors, including empathic ability and social dominance, and the role of the gut microbiota in these processes, using a series of behavioral paradigms in mice combined with 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing. Behavioral assay results showed that SD in adolescence significantly reduced the frequency of licking, the total time spent licking, and the time spent sniffing during the emotional contagion test in male mice, effects that were not observed in female mice. These findings indicated that SD in adolescence exerts long-term, negative effects on empathic ability in mice and that this effect is sex-dependent. In contrast, SD in adolescence had no significant effect on locomotor activities, social dominance but decreased social interaction in male mice in adulthood. Meanwhile, 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing results showed that gut microbial richness and diversity were significantly altered in adult male mice subjected to SD in adolescence. Our data provide direct evidence that SD in youth can induce alterations in empathic ability in adult male mice, which may be associated with changes in the gut microbiota. These findings highlight the long-lasting effects of sleep loss in adolescence on social behaviors in adulthood and the role played by the brain-gut axis.

The impact of shift work on pain recognition, a robust ability among intensive care nurses

BACKGROUND

Pain empathy is essential for high-quality of care. The cognitive ability to identify and understand the pain in others remains underexplored in the context of hospital shift work. This study aimed to observe the early subliminal ability to detect pain in other faces and to investigate pain intensity evaluations during day and night shifts.

METHODS

Twenty-one nurses (31 ± 7 years, 20 women) from cardio-paediatric intensive care participated in this study. Eighteen nurses completed all testing in the morning and evening hours, before and after the 12-hour day and night shift. In the first test, the nurses had to decide if facial stimuli presented subliminally showed pain or not. During the second test, they consciously determined the intensity of the painful faces on a numerical scale. Sleep, sleepiness and empathy were also measured.

RESULTS

Recognition accuracy and pain sensitivity remained stable over time, only sensitivity increased following the work shift (F(1,15) = 7.10, p = 0.018). Intensity ratings remained stable. Sleepiness at the end of the night shift was negatively correlated with accuracy (ρ = -0.51, p = 0.018) and positively correlated with prior night shifts (ρ = -0.50, p = 0.022).

CONCLUSION

The judgement of facial pain expressions seems robust across shift types, only individual factors such as sleepiness interfere with pain recognition. Pain sensitivity may be enhanced during working hours.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT

Some professions need to know how to assess pain 24/7 and a lack of sleep can disrupt the cognitive processes necessary for this assessment. Night shifts provoke a bias in pain management, and sleep deprivation, a decrease in pain evaluation. By conducting a repeated measure study in the field that applied a different paradigm (subliminal recognition of facial cues) we add evidence to the understanding of pain recognition and the impact of sleep deprivation on the early processing of pain in others.

Perceived social support and sleep quality in patients with arteriosclerotic obliterans: The mediating roles of psychological flexibility

AIM

The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of perceived social support (PSS) on sleep quality in arteriosclerotic obliterans patients in China and examined whether psychological flexibility (PF) has a mediating effect between PSS and sleep quality.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional survey.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted between September 2020 and December 2021 on 172 patients with atherosclerotic obliterans recruited from a hospital in China.

RESULTS

PSS was negatively associated with sleep quality and PF, whereas PF was positively associated with sleep quality. This relationship between PSS and sleep quality was mediated by PF.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

Vascular surgery specialist nurses assisted the members of the research group in distributing the questionnaires after the patients gave oral informed consent, and the patients cooperated to complete the questionnaires. We thank both parties for their contributions to this survey.