A Clinical Syndrome and EEG-Sleep Changes Associated with Amino Acid Deprivation

Abstract

Sleep studies and psychiatric examinations were made on three patients with inoperable malignancies whose illnesses were being managed with an experimental low phenylalanine-tyrosine diet. There was a systematic reduction of REM sleep, supporting the findings of Jouvet suggesting that norepinephrine (a metabolic product of phenylalanine and tyrosine) has a role in the maintenance of REM sleep. The patients developed a reversible clinical syndrome manifested by indifference to their environment, lethargy, and impairment of long-term memory.