According to a new study conducted by RIKEN Quantitative Biology Center or QBiC at the University of Tokyo, calcium is not only good for our bones but also a key to a longer and better sleep. The researchers revealed the new study of how sleep works and how slow-waves of sleep rely on calcium contained in the brain cells, published in the journal Cell.

"Although sleep is a fundamental physiologic function, its mechanism is still a mystery," said Dr. Hiroki Ueda, group director and corresponding author from the University of Tokyo.

The team conducted a multi-disciplinary research composed of scientific techniques, computational modeling and having knockout mice as the subject to see the concealed mechanism of sleep. He explains that since the study have shown a new theory regarding sleep; different methodologies are needed to support the claim.

Ueda may be a medical doctor by profession and training, but as a researcher on sleep disorders, he delves to a deep and broad approach relying on other models such as in silico, in vivo and in vitro. Within silico, a computational neural model was made to predict neural activity in slow-wave sleep.

Fumiya Tatsuki, an undergraduate and co-author of the study said that their model has four predictions, which provided them four starting points to look for the vital genes involved in sleep. The predictions were certified and proven in the experiment. The group then was able to identify the seven genes that functions in the same pathway related to calcium to control the length of sleep.

CRISPR, a highly made and efficient in vitro system with a 100 percent success rate was used to create 21 knockout mice. Along with the group of researchers, Genshiro Sunagawa also made an automated sleep monitoring system which collects important behavioral data.

Using the two computer equipment, the team found that the knockout mice have seven genes that are vital to the increase and decrease of sleep duration. These seven genes were found to be calcium-dependent in the changes taking place in the brain cells. According to the models, six down-regulating genes are responsible for the lack of sleep duration and the last gene is for the longer duration of sleep.

The authors said that the findings of the study should be able to help and contribute to understanding psychiatric disorders including sleep disorder and neurological illnesses.

Photo: Mark Sebastian | Flickr