14 - 01 - 2015, 05:59 AM
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(ANSA) - Rome - Sleeping a lot could help fight the flu, according to experiments on mice carried out by researchers at Washington State University in the United States.
The team led by WSU Professor James Krueger discovered that mice that had been infected with the H1N1 flu virus and genetically deprived of AcPb - a brain-specific protein that plays a part in regulating sleep and activating the immune system - slept less, developed severer symptoms and died in greater numbers than mice that had been infected but were capable of producing the protein.
"Over the years, research has confirmed that sleep has a very important detoxifying effect in eliminating toxins that the body takes in or produces during waking hours," said Pietro Calissano, from the National Research Council's Institute of Neurobiology and Molecular Medicine (CNR-INMM). "This study uncovered the molecular mechanism that explains why sleep is also important in fighting the flu".
The study was published in the November 2014 issue of Brain, Behavior and Immunity medical journal.
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