慢性睡眠剝奪改變人類和動物的青春期時間

Sleep deprivation (SD) has become a secular trend in adolescents that causes adverse health outcomes. A growing evidence shows that SD may contribute in precocious puberty. However, to date, the exact mechanisms of how sleep deprivation results in early sexual maturation remain unclear. Therefore, we aim to investigate further about the correlation between SD and pubertal timing, and clarify the mechanisms. A total of 459 boys and 959 girls with a mean age of 11.71 ± 1.78-year-old and 9.72 ± 1.77-year-old, respectively, were included in this study. The results showed that SD led to early sexual maturation through obesity as the mediator, especially in girls. Subsequently, we investigated using experimental animals to explore the underlying mechanisms. Sprague-Dawley juvenile rats were exposed to 4 weeks of chronic sleep deprivation (CSD). Food and water were provided ad libitum. and they were sacrificed when they were 7-weeks-old. The vaginal opening and balanopreputial observation were performed every morning throughout the study to determine the pubertal onset in female and male rats, respectively. A vaginal smear was performed daily on female rats to assess the estrous cycles. The animal study depicted different results as they had lower body weight which eventually led to delayed puberty. In addition, SD caused elevated levels of oxidative stress and systemic inflammation, lower short-chained fatty acids, and gut dysbiosis which also affected the pubertal timing. Taken together, this study shows how sleep deprivation differently affects the pubertal timing in humans and animals.