Mid-morning tryptophan depletion delays REM sleep onset in healthy subjects
Abstract
Because serotonin is involved in the diachronic regulation of sleep, we tested the effect of a midmorning rapid deficiency in the serotonin precursor tryptophan on the next night's sleep. After a 48-h low-protein diet, 17 healthy volunteers received either a tryptophan-free mixture of amino acids or a placebo at 10:30 A.M., in a randomized double-blind cross-over design, resulting in a 77% decrease and 41% decrease of serum tryptophan at 3:30 P.M. and 9:30 P.M., respectively. Urinary sulfatoxy-melatonin excretion and mood were unaffected by the rapid tryptophan depletion (RTD), but rapid eye movement (REM) sleep latency increased by 21 min (from 91.5 +/- 4.5 min to 112.2 +/- 6.9 min), sleep fragmentation 58%, and REM density of the first REM sleep period doubled. The results show that midmorning RTD delays REM sleep latency during following night-time sleep, whereas evening RTD shortens REM sleep latency in previous studies, and suggest that the serotonin control of REM sleep latency is upregulated.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Tryptophan depletion studies have demonstrated decreased tryptophan plasma concentrations affected sleep fragmentation (arousal index), REM sleep latency, and REM density compared to baseline and placebo.
“Tryptophan depletion studies have demonstrated decreased tryptophan plasma concentrations affected sleep fragmentation (arousal index (events/h)), REM sleep latency (the interval between first epoch of stage 2 and the first epoch of REM sleep), and REM density (the cumulated duration of each REM burst divided by the duration of each REM sleep period) compared to baseline and placebo [56,57].”
From Sleep and Nutrition Interactions: Implications for Athletes (2019) · cites this paper as [56]
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 35 · Cited by 41
- Authors
- Arnulf, I.
- Affiliations
- Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Arnulf, I
- ORCID
- Arnulf, I
- Venue
- Neuropsychopharmacology
- Published
- 2002-11
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 843-851
- ISSN
- 0893-133X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2124402458
- Cited by
- 41
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 2 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 0.83
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Neuropsychopharmacology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Circadian rhythm and melatonin
- Keywords
- tryptophan depletion, REM latency, serotonin, sleep regulation, amino acid mixtures, low-protein diet, sleep fragmentation, REM density, mood, healthy volunteers
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Analysis of Variance, Circadian Rhythm, Double-Blind Method, Female, Humans, Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders, Male, Sleep, REM, Tryptophan, Cross-Over Studies, Diet, Protein-Restricted
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
