EFFECT OF SLEEP-DEPRIVATION ON SERUM INFLUENZA-SPECIFIC IGG

Intra-pulmonary protection against influenza virus in immune mice, lar gely dependent upon serum IgG, is reported to be suppressed by 7 hours of sleep deprivation following viral challenge. This implies that sle ep deprivation may accelerate the catabolism of influenza-specific ant ibodies. To determine the effects of sleep deprivation on the cataboli sm of serum antibodies, BALB/c mice were passively immunized intraveno usly with IgG anti-influenza monoclonalantibodies and catabolism kinet ics monitored for 6 days. Mice were then sleep-deprived for either 9 h ours (one episode) or for 9 hours followed by 6 hours on the consecuti ve day (two episodes) and the serum titer of influenza-specific monocl onal antibodies monitored for an additional 8 days via ELISA. One epis ode of sleep-deprivation had only minor effects on IgG catabolism; how ever, two episodes of sleep-deprivation caused significant changes in the kinetics of IgG catabolism, resulting in elevated IgG levels (p = 0.02) for 2 days post-sleep deprivation. Elevation of serum influenza- specific IgG (p = 0.005) was also seen in actively immune mice followi ng two episodes of sleep-deprivation. Serum chemistries ruled out dehy dration as a cause of the increased antibody levels; however, some ano malies were noted: total protein and albumin were elevated, although n ot significantly, and P and Ca were decreased. Thus, our data do not s upport the hypothesis that sleep-deprivation lowers existing serum ant ibody titers by accelerating antibody catabolism.