Backgrounds

In contemporary society, there is an ongoing shift toward nighttime activities and the shortening of sleep behavior. There have also been reports of qualitative changes in labor and more people are complaining of chronic sleep disorders. The biggest problem with sleep disorders is the difficulty that sleepiness brings to daily life. While nocturnal awakening is also frequently seen to increase with age, there is no effective treatment.

This project seeks to elucidate the pathogenesis of sleep disorders that exhibit symptoms such as oversleeping and sleep fragmentation with the aim of developing new therapeutic drugs and biomarkers for use in the early diagnosis and evaluation of therapeutic efficacy.

Objectives

• To elucidate the pathogenesis of sleep disorders that exhibit oversleeping and to develop new methods of diagnosis, prevention, and treatment
• To elucidate the successful foundation of substances that act to stabilize and maintain sleep and to develop new treatments
• To examine the foundation of arousal controls in cellular and animal models to clarify the conditions for healthy sleep

Members

Project Leader Taku Miyagawa

• Akiyo Natsubori
• Mihoko Shimada
• Yoshiki Matsuda