AUTHOR=Su Ai-Xi , Ma Zi-Jie , Li Zong-Yin , Li Xue-Yan , Xia Lan , Ge Yi-Jun , Chen Gui-Hai 

TITLE=Serum levels of neurotensin, pannexin-1, and sestrin-2 and the correlations with sleep quality or/and cognitive function in the patients with chronic insomnia disorder

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=15

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1360305

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1360305

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Objectives</title><p>To examine serum concentrations of neurotensin, pannexin-1 and sestrin-2, and their correlations with subjective and objective sleep quality and cognitive function in the patients with chronic insomnia disorder (CID).</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>Sixty-five CID patients were enrolled continuously and fifty-six good sleepers in the same period were served as healthy controls (HCs). Serum levels of neurotensin, pannexin-1 and sestrin-2 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Sleep quality was assessed with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and polysomnography, and mood was evaluated by 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. General cognitive function was assessed with the Chinese-Beijing Version of Montreal Cognitive Assessment and spatial memory was evaluated by Blue Velvet Arena Test (BVAT).</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Relative to the HCs, the CID sufferers had higher levels of neurotensin (<italic>t</italic>=5.210, <italic>p</italic>&lt;0.001) and pannexin-1 (<italic>Z</italic>=−4.169, <italic>p</italic>&lt;0.001), and lower level of sestrin-2 (<italic>Z</italic>=−2.438, <italic>p</italic>=0.015). In terms of objective sleep measures, pannexin-1 was positively associated with total sleep time (<italic>r</italic>=0.562, <italic>p</italic>=0.002) and sleep efficiency (<italic>r</italic>=0.588, <italic>p</italic>=0.001), and negatively with wake time after sleep onset (<italic>r</italic>=−0.590, <italic>p</italic>=0.001) and wake time (<italic>r</italic>=−0.590, <italic>p</italic>=0.001); sestrin-2 was positively associated with percentage of rapid eye movement sleep (<italic>r</italic>=0.442, <italic>p</italic>=0.016) and negatively with non-rapid eye movement sleep stage 2 in the percentage (<italic>r</italic>=−0.394, <italic>p</italic>=0.034). Adjusted for sex, age and HAMD, pannexin-1 was still associated with the above objective sleep measures, but sestrin-2 was only negatively with wake time (<italic>r</italic>=−0.446, <italic>p</italic>=0.022). However, these biomarkers showed no significant correlations with subjective sleep quality (PSQI score). Serum concentrations of neurotensin and pannexin-1 were positively associated with the mean erroneous distance in the BVAT. Adjusted for sex, age and depression, neurotensin was negatively associated with MoCA score (<italic>r</italic>=−0.257, <italic>p</italic>=0.044), pannexin-1 was positively associated with the mean erroneous distance in the BVAT (<italic>r</italic>=0.270, <italic>p</italic>=0.033).</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusions</title><p>The CID patients had increased neurotensin and pannexin-1 and decreased sestrin-2 in the serum levels, indicating neuron dysfunction, which could be related to poor sleep quality and cognitive dysfunction measured objectively.</p></sec>