ABSTRACT
Total sleep deprivation (TSD) and time-on-task (TOT), especially in combination, increase cognitive instability and cause performance impairment. There are large inter-individual differences in TSD and TOT effects which, in part, have a genetic basis. Here, we show that the dopamine receptor D2 C957T genetic polymorphism predicts the magnitude of the TOT effect on a psychomotor vigilance test (PVT) during 38 h of TSD. This finding indicates that dopamine availability in the striatum, where the dopamine receptor D2 is most prevalent, influences the TOT effect, suggesting a role for dopaminergic pathways in sustained attention deficits during sleep loss.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Paul Whitney and John Hinson for their involvement in study design and procedures. This research was supported by Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs award W81XWH-16-1-0319 and W81XWH-18-1-0100.
U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command award.
Disclosure statement
The authors report no conflicts of interest.