INTRODUCTION: Maintaining a proper sleep schedule has been well proven to be crucial for our physical and mental wellbeing. Although there is a lot of research on how “pulling an all-nighter” can disrupt our brain functions, the importance of the connection between sleep hygiene and gut health remains mostly underexplored.

AIM(S): Given that disruptions in both sleep and gastrointestinal functions are observed in Parkinson’s Disease (PD) this study aimed to investigate how one night’s sleep deprivation affects the gut condition of Drosophila melanogaster park mutants. We investigated gene expressions levels, as well as the integrity of intestinal barrier following one night of sleep loss.

METHOD(S): All experiments were conducted on 5–7-day-old Drosophila melanogaster male flies. Gut samples were collected from the R4 region of the midgut. Each experimental group was subjected to sleep deprivation from 4:00 PM to 8:00 AM. Gut permeability was evaluated using the Smurf assay in park mutant flies. Gene expression levels of tim, npf, itp, and ninaD were analyzed in both head and gut tissues using quantitative PCR (qPCR).

RESULTS: We found that itp gene expression level was significantly higher in both heads and guts of the experimental group compared to the control. Moreover, after sleep deprivation expression of ninaD in the heads and tim in the guts were elevated. We also found smurf-positive flies to be present in only sleep-deprived group of park mutants, which indicates compromised intestinal barrier function in this particular group.

CONCLUSIONS: The elevation of genes involved in circadian regulation (tim) and water homeostasis (itp), suggests that sleep deprivation may disrupt homeostatic pathways critical for maintaining gut health. Those findings support the growing recognition of the gut-brain axis, and highlight how disturbances in sleep may exacerbate pathological processes relevant to PD development. Further research is needed in order to establish a molecular mechanism responsible for observed changes.