Sleep and circadian rhythms are among the most powerful but least understood contributors to cognitive performance and brain health. Here we capitalize on the circadian resetting effect of blue-wavelength light to phase shift the sleep patterns of adult patients (aged 18-48 years) recovering from mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), with the aim of facilitating recovery of brain structure, connectivity, and cognitive performance. During a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 32 adults with a recent mTBI, we compared 6-weeks of daily 30-min pulses of blue light (peak λ = 469 nm) each morning versus amber placebo light (peak λ = 578 nm) on neurocognitive and neuroimaging outcomes, including gray matter volume (GMV), resting-state functional connectivity, directed connectivity using Granger causality, and white matter integrity using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Relative to placebo, morning blue light led to phase-advanced sleep timing, reduced daytime sleepiness, and improved executive functioning, and was associated with increased volume of the posterior thalamus (i.e., pulvinar), greater thalamo-cortical functional connectivity, and increased axonal integrity of these pathways. These findings provide insight into the contributions of the circadian and sleep systems in brain repair and lay the groundwork for interventions targeting the retinohypothalamic system to facilitate injury recovery.

中文翻译：

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蓝光暴露于睡眠以及轻度脑外伤后大脑结构，功能和认知恢复的随机，双盲，安慰剂对照试验。

睡眠和昼夜节律是认知能力和大脑健康的最有力但鲜为人知的因素。在这里，我们利用蓝波长光的昼夜节律复位效应，使从轻度颅脑损伤（mTBI）中恢复的成年患者（18-48岁）的睡眠模式发生相移，以促进脑结构，连接性的恢复以及认知表现。在一项随机，双盲，安慰剂对照试验中，对32名成年人进行了最近的mTBI治疗，我们比较了每天早上6周的每天30分钟的蓝光（峰值λ= 469 nm）与琥珀色的安慰剂光（峰值λ）之间的比较。 = 578 nm）的神经认知和神经影像结果，包括灰质体积（GMV），静止状态功能连通性，使用格兰杰因果关系的有向连通性，和白质完整性使用扩散张量成像（DTI）。相对于安慰剂，早晨的蓝光导致阶段性睡眠时间提前，白天嗜睡减少，执行功能改善，并与丘脑后部（即眼睑）的体积增加，丘脑-皮质功能连接性增加以及轴突增加有关这些途径的完整性。这些发现提供了对昼夜节律和睡眠系统在脑修复中的贡献的见解，并为针对视网膜下丘脑系统以促进损伤恢复的干预措施奠定了基础。pulvinar），更大的丘脑-皮质功能连接性以及这些途径的轴突完整性增加。这些发现提供了对昼夜节律和睡眠系统在脑修复中的贡献的见解，并为针对视网膜下丘脑系统以促进损伤恢复的干预措施奠定了基础。pulvinar），更大的丘脑-皮质功能连接性以及这些途径的轴突完整性增加。这些发现提供了对昼夜节律和睡眠系统在脑修复中的贡献的见解，并为针对视网膜下丘脑系统以促进损伤恢复的干预措施奠定了基础。