Neuroimaging Biomarkers in Sleep Disruptions: Current Evidence from a Radiology Perspective

Nurmakhan Zholshybek 1, Elnora Abdurakhmanova 2, Almas Bimakhan 2, Aigerim Bolatbek 2, Joseph Almazan 1, Srinivasa Rao Bolla 2 *
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1 Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan
2 Department of Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan
* Corresponding Author
J CLIN MED KAZ, Volume 23, Issue 5, pp. 103-109. https://doi.org/10.23950/jcmk/19616
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Author Contributions: Conceptualization,  N. Z. and S. B.; methodology, N. Z. and Al. B.; validation, J. A. and S. B.; formal analysis – not applicable; investigation – not applicable; resources, S. B.; data curation – not applicable; writing – original draft preparation, N. Z., E. A. and Al. B.; writing – review and editing, N. Z. and Ai. B.; visualization, N. Z.; supervision, S. B.; project administration, Ai. B.; funding acquisition, S. B. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Data availability statement: The original contributions presented in this study are included in the article. Further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Disclosure Statement: The authors declare no AI Tools used for preparation of this work.

ABSTRACT

Sleep disruption has emerged as an important contributor to cognitive, neurovascular, and metabolic dysfunction, yet its acute cerebral correlates remain incompletely characterized. This review synthesizes current evidence on structural, diffusion, functional, metabolic, and optical neuroimaging biomarkers associated with acute sleep deprivation from a radiology perspective. Structural magnetic resonance imaging studies show rapid but often reversible changes in gray matter morphology and perivascular spaces, whereas white matter signal abnormalities predominantly reflect underlying chronic vascular vulnerability. Diffusion-based approaches, including diffusion tensor and diffusion kurtosis imaging, and diffusion tensor image analysis along the perivascular space, reveal alterations in white matter microstructure and glymphatic transport that may reflect impaired waste clearance and increased vulnerability to sleep debt. Functional magnetic resonance imaging demonstrates disruptions in the default mode, thalamic, and frontoparietal networks, alongside impaired task-related activation and reduced attentional performance due to acute sleep deprivation. Positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance spectroscopy provide complementary metabolic and neurochemical evidence of reduced glucose utilization, incomplete recovery after deprivation, and sleep-related shifts in cerebral metabolites. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy further highlights deficits in prefrontal neurovascular coupling during acute sleep deprivation. Taken together, these modalities indicate that even short-term sleep disruption produces measurable and potentially clinically relevant changes in the brain. Determining whether these transient neuroimaging shifts predict long-term neurological consequences requires prospective, longitudinal studies with standardized acquisition and analysis pipelines to accelerate the clinical translation of quantitative sleep debt biomarkers.
Keywords: sleep deprivation, magnetic resonance imaging, biomarkers, prefrontal cortex, diffusion tensor imaging, glymphatic system, diagnostic imaging

CITATION

Zholshybek N, Abdurakhmanova E, Bimakhan A, Bolatbek A, Almazan J, Bolla SR. Neuroimaging Biomarkers in Sleep Disruptions: Current Evidence from a Radiology Perspective. J CLIN MED KAZ. 2026;23(5):103-9. https://doi.org/10.23950/jcmk/19616

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