In October, a research team led by University of New Mexico professor Mubarak Hussain Syed uncovered a link between neural stem cell development and adult sleep behaviors. Using research from fly brains, researchers found evidence to support the idea that sleep problems in humans are rooted in adolescent development.
“We wanted to know what makes sleep neurons ‘sleep-promoting neurons,’” Syed said.
Stem cells are unique because they can self-replicate and differentiate into different types of cells. Neural stem cells are crucial to understanding the neural circuits of the brain, according to the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center.
“They make different connections, and they end up in different circuits, which make us do different things,” Syed said.
The team’s research on fruit flies allowed it to link sleep neurons to the flies’ ecdysone receptors, which play a role in regulating a fly’s developmental transitions.
Matthew Kayser, an psychiatry professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and a corresponding author on the research, said the findings support the idea that sleep problems in childhood or adulthood could be partly dependent on development.
Although it may be difficult to see the link between humans and flies, fruit flies have been used for biomedical research for over 100 years.
This is partially because it is easy to raise multiple generations in the lab. Fruit flies are fully developed at 10-14 days old, and each female can lay hundreds of eggs in its lifetime, according to Columbia University Kalderon Labs.
The widespread use of fruit flies in research is also partially due to their genetic similarities to humans. About 60% of fruit flies’ genes can be found in humans in a similar form, according to Max-Planck-Gesellschaft.
Fruit flies also express complex behaviors.
“Flies sleep. Flies fight,” Syed said. “Flies groom like we clean ourselves.”
Recently, researchers at Princeton University completed the first-ever complete neural-connections map of a fruit fly’s brain. This could help scientists around the world better understand how the brain functions, according to Princeton University.
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“‘How does development shape brain function?’ is kind of an open question in the field,” Syed said. “That’s what I decided to work on, because in the past, people have worked on the development of stem cells or people have worked on behaviors. So it is hard to link the two with one speciality.”
By improving their understanding of fruit flies, researchers have the opportunity to improve their understanding of humans, according to Syed.
“Perhaps our study can help them understand why sleep defects are there in patients with neural developmental disorders,” Syed said.
Arly Garcia is a beat reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo
