The sleep/wake cycle is accompanied by changes in circulating numbers of immune cells. The goal of this study was to provide an in-depth characterization of diurnal rhythms in different blood cell populations and to investigate the effect of acute sleep deprivation on the immune system, as an indicator of the body's acute stress response.
Observational within-subject design.
Home environment and Clinical Research Centre.
15 healthy male participants aged 23.7 ± 5.4 (standard deviation) yr.
Total sleep deprivation.
Diurnal rhythms of several blood cell populations were assessed under a normal sleep/wake cycle followed by 29 hr of extended wakefulness. The effect of condition (sleep versus sleep deprivation) on peak time and amplitude was investigated. Interindividual variation of, and the level of correlation between, the different cell populations was assessed. Comprehensive nonlinear curve fitting showed significant diurnal rhythms for all blood cell types investigated, with CD4 (naïve) cells exhibiting the most robust rhythms independent of condition. For those participants exhibiting significant diurnal rhythms in blood cell populations, only the amplitude of the granulocyte rhythm was significantly reduced by sleep deprivation. Granulocytes were the most diverse population, being most strongly affected by condition, and showed the lowest correlations with any other given cell type while exhibiting the largest interindividual variation in abundance.
Granulocyte levels and diurnal rhythmicity are directly affected by acute sleep deprivation; these changes mirror the body's immediate immune response upon exposure to stress.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 41. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 19 January 2025.
All research outputs
#1,242,814
of 32,932,292 outputs
Outputs from Sleep
#819
of 5,884 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#5,769
of 203,067 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Sleep
#8
of 38 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 32,932,292 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 96th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 5,884 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 33.5. This one has done well, scoring higher than 86% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 203,067 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 97% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 38 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 78% of its contemporaries.
