Several neuropeptides affect the sleep-wake cycle, for example, vasoactive intestinal polypeptide, cholecystokinin octapeptide, orexin, somatostatin, insulin, leptin, ghrelin, neuropeptide Y and cortistatin, which regulate food ingestion. There are also proteins from the immunological system: tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin (IL)-1beta IL-4, IL-10, IL-13, as well as trophic molecules, such as growth hormone-releasing hormone, growth hormone, prolactin, brain-derived neurotrophic factor and nerve growth factor, neurotrophin-3 and neurotrophin-4. Based on this information, we believe that some functions of sleep can be suggested. One of these functions could be the regulation of energy, since many, if not all, of the neuropeptides that regulate feeding affect the level of alertness. Likewise, the immunological system and the trophic molecules establish a dialog with the brain during sleep in order to reestablish neuronal structure. These proteins are the expression of genes that accomplish the function of regulating our waking and our sleep, suggesting the important control the genome is exerting on this activity.
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