宾夕法尼亚大学佩雷尔曼医学院Amita Sehgal小组近日取得一项新成果。经过不懈努力，他们开发出外周血细胞对脑部脂质的睡眠依赖性清除。该研究于2026年2月11日发表于国际一流学术期刊《自然》杂志上。

在这里，小组确定了果蝇循环中的外周巨噬细胞样细胞（血细胞）的睡眠功能，表明血细胞在睡眠期间追踪到大脑，并吸收由于觉醒相关的氧化损伤而积聚在皮层胶质细胞中的脂质。通过对血细胞中表达的吞噬受体的筛选，研究组发现，敲除吞噬受体（Nimrod受体家族的一员）会减少睡眠。缺食还会破坏血细胞对大脑的定位和脂质摄取，从而导致脑内乙酰辅酶A和乙酰化蛋白（包括线粒体蛋白PGC1α和DRP1）水平升高。线粒体失调，反映在高氧化和NAD⁺减少，伴随着记忆和寿命受损。他们，外周血细胞，该研究组认为是哺乳动物小胶质细胞的前体，执行日常睡眠功能，以维持大脑功能和健康。

据介绍，睡眠通常是通过以大脑为中心的透镜来观察的，对外周的作用知之甚少。

附：英文原文

Title: Sleep-dependent clearance of brain lipids by peripheral blood cells

Author: Cho, Bumsik, Youngstrom, Diane E., Killiany, Samantha, Guevara, Camilo, Randolph, Caitlin E., Beveridge, Connor H., Saklani, Pooja, Chopra, Gaurav, Sehgal, Amita

Issue&Volume: 2026-02-11

Abstract: Sleep is viewed typically through a brain-centric lens, with little known about the role of the periphery1,2. Here we identify a sleep function for peripheral macrophage-like cells (haemocytes) in the Drosophila circulation, showing that haemocytes track to the brain during sleep and take up lipids accumulated in cortex glia due to wake-associated oxidative damage. Through a screen of phagocytic receptors expressed in haemocytes, we discovered that knockdown of eater—a member of the Nimrod receptor family—reduces sleep. Loss of eater also disrupts haemocyte localization to the brain and lipid uptake, which results in increased brain levels of acetyl-CoA and acetylated proteins, including mitochondrial proteins PGC1α and DRP1. Dysregulation of mitochondria, reflected in high oxidation and reduced NAD+, is accompanied by impaired memory and lifespan. Thus, peripheral blood cells, which we suggest are precursors of mammalian microglia, perform a daily function of sleep to maintain brain function and fitness.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-10050-w

Source:https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-10050-w