We investigated the mechanism of metabolic disorders associated with chronic sleep disturbance. Chronic sleep disturbance induces impaired glucose tolerance in wild-type mice, but the impaired glucose tolerance induced by sleep loss was attenuated in mice lacking mast cells throughout the body. These results suggest that mast cells are likely to be involved in metabolic disorders associated with chronic sleep disturbance. Furthermore, we demonstrated that intracranial mast cells are also involved in behavioral regulation such as social behavior via the serotonin system.
