Using DTI, we examined the effects of one night of acute total sleep deprivation on fractional anisotropy (FA), an index reflecting the degree of anisotropic water diffusion in brain white matter. Sleep deprivation significantly increases FA in the right superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) in individuals who were cognitively vulnerable to sleep loss, while no FA changes were observed in cognitively resistant individuals. Vulnerable subjects also showed lower FA in the right SLF than resistant subjects at baseline before sleep loss, suggesting both trait- and state-dependent interactions between SLF microstructure and cognitive vulnerability to sleep deprivation.
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