Chronic sleep deprivation markedly reduces coagulation factor VII expression

Chronic sleep loss, a common feature of human life in industrialized countries, is associated to cardiovascular disorders. Variations in functional parameters of coagulation might contribute to explain this relationship. By exploiting the mouse model and a specifically designed protocol, we demonstrated that seven days of partial sleep deprivation significantly decreases (-30.5%) the thrombin generation potential in plasma evaluated upon extrinsic (TF/FVIIa pathway), but not intrinsic, activation of coagulation. This variation was consistent with a decrease (-49.8%) in the plasma activity levels of factor VII (FVII), the crucial physiological trigger of coagulation, which was even more pronounced at the liver mRNA level (-85.7%). The recovery in normal sleep conditions for three days completely restored thrombin generation and FVII activity in plasma. For the first time, we demonstrate that chronic sleep deprivation on its own reduces, in a reversible manner, the FVII expression levels, thus influencing the TF/FVIIa activation pathway efficiency.