ABSTRACT
Sleep is considered to be an important predictor of the immunity, since the absence of sleep can affect the development of the immune response, and consequently increase the susceptibility to contract an infection. The aim of the present study was to investigate if sleep deprivation and stress induce dysregulation of the duodenal mucous membrane during the acute infection with Trichinella spiralis. Our results shows that, in the intestinal mucous membrane, stress and sleep deprivation, produces different effect in the cells, and this effect depends on the studied duodenal compartment, glands or villi. The sleep deprivation affect mast cells mainly, and the stress response is more heterogeneous. Interestingly, in the duodenal mucous membrane, none population of cells in the infected groups responded equally to both conditions. These findings suggest that the response of the intestinal mucous membrane during the infection caused for T. spiralis turns out to be affected in the sleep-deprived rats, therefore, the results of the present study sustain the theory that sleep is a fundamental process that is capable of modulating the immune response of mucous membranes, particularly the one generated against the parasite Trichinella spiralis.
