Effects of one-night partial sleep deprivation on perivascular space volume fraction: Findings from the Stockholm Sleepy Brain Study

• Published in: Sleep medicine Vol. 131; p. 106537
• Main Authors: Custer, Rachel M., Lynch, Kirsten M., Barisano, Giuseppe, Herting, Megan M., Åkerstedt, Torbjörn, Nilsonne, Gustav, Ahmadi, Hedyeh, Choupan, Jeiran
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.07.2025
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Biomarkers; Brain - diagnostic imaging; Brain - pathology; Brain - physiopathology; Female; Glymphatic System - diagnostic imaging; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Neuroimaging; Sleep - physiology; Sleep and the brain; Sleep deprivation; Sleep Deprivation - pathology; Sleep Deprivation - physiopathology; Sleep Stages - physiology; Sweden; Young Adult; Sweden; Neuroimaging; Biomarkers; Sleep and the brain; Sleep deprivation
• ISSN: 1389-9457; 1878-5506; 1878-5506
• DOI: 10.1016/j.sleep.2025.106537

Increased waste clearance in the brain is thought to occur most readily during deep sleep (stage N3). Sleep deprivation disrupts time spent in deeper sleep stages, fragmenting the clearance process. Here, we have utilized the publicly available Stockholm Sleepy Brain Study to investigate whether various sleep-related measures are associated with changes in perivascular space (PVS) volume fraction following a late-night short-sleep experiment. The study sample consisted of 60 participants divided into old (65–75 years) and young (20–30 years) age groups. We found that partial sleep deprivation was not significantly associated with major PVS changes. In our centrum semiovale models, we observed an interaction between percentage of total sleep time spent in N3 and sleep deprivation status on PVS volume fraction. In our basal ganglia models, we saw an interaction between N2 (both percentage of total sleep time and absolute time in minutes) and sleep deprivation status. However, the significance of these findings did not survive multiple comparisons corrections. This work highlights the need for future longitudinal studies of PVS and sleep, allowing for quantification of within-subject morphological changes occurring in PVS due to patterns of poor sleep. Our findings here provide insight on the impact that a single night of late-night short-sleep has on the perivascular waste clearance system. •The link between sleep stage duration and PVS depends on sleep deprivation status.•CSO-PVS declined more steeply with more N3 sleep in non-sleep deprived individuals.•More N2 sleep linked to lower BG-PVS in non-deprived but higher BG-PVS in deprived.•Sleep deprivation linked to enlarged CSO-PVS in young adults.