Human deep sleep is characterized by rhythmical brain waves. In deep sleep millions of cerebral neurons are active in synchrony and generate slow, rhythmical brain waves. After a long time awake, the same brain activity pattern can be measured as a sign for fatigue. A NeuroCure research team led by David Owald now observed those waves within fruit flies.
This principle of deep sleep brain activity newly found in the Fruit fly Drosophila Melanogaster now indicates a fundamental principle in the control of sleep and wake cycles that is not only present in vertebrates. The Group could also show the importance of the temporal clocking of specific neuronal networks for fatigue and sleep quality. These results are published in the Journal Current Biology.