Previous studies demonstrate that patients with sleep disorders are at risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD), with the mechanism unknown. It is suggested that acute sleep deprivation induces an increase of amyloid-β (Aβ), the major pathological agent in AD, in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). In the present study, we recruited 23 patients with chronic insomnia aged between 46 to 67 years and 23 healthy controls aged between 43 to 67 years. We investigated the CSF levels of Aβ and tau, another pathological hallmark in the AD pathogenesis. We found that CSF Aβ42 levels were significantly increased in insomnia patients. However, no significant difference was found in Aβ40, total tau (t-Tau), and phosphorylated tau (p-Tau) between the two groups. Furthermore, we found that CSF Aβ40 and Aβ42 levels are significantly correlated with the sleep quality, as reflected by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) scores. But no significant correlation was found in CSF t-Tau and p-Tau levels with PSQI. Our results indicate that chronic sleep disorders may induce the disruption of Aβ metabolism in the brain, thus increase the risk for developing AD.
Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; amyloid-β; sleep disorder; tau.