Data from: Homeostatic control of deep sleep and molecular correlates of sleep pressure in Drosophila

Homeostatic control of sleep is typically addressed through mechanical
stimulation-induced forced wakefulness and the measurement of subsequent
increases in sleep. A major confound attends this approach: biological
responses to deprivation may reflect a direct response to the mechanical
insult rather than to the loss of sleep. Similar confounds accompany all
forms of sleep deprivation and represent a major challenge to the field.
Here we describe a new paradigm for sleep deprivation in Drosophila that
fully accounts for sleep-independent effects. Our results reveal that deep
sleep states are the primary target of homeostatic control and establish
the presence of multi-cycle sleep rebound following deprivation.
Furthermore, we establish that specific deprivation of deep sleep state
results in state-specific homeostatic rebound. Finally, by accounting for
the molecular effects of mechanical stimulation during deprivation
experiments, we show that serotonin levels track sleep pressure in the
fly’s central brain. Our results illustrate the critical need to control
for sleep-independent effects of deprivation when examining the molecular
correlates of sleep pressure and call for a critical reassessment of work
that has not accounted for such non-specific effects.