Nature Podcast These hungry immune cells tidy sleeping flies' brains
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Feb 11, 2026 Amita Segal, a neurobiology and immunology professor, studies how immune-like haemocytes interact with fly brains. She explains haemocytes moving to the brain surface during sleep. They eat lipids off glia. When clearance fails, flies show lipid buildup, oxidative damage, memory and sleep problems, and shorter lives.
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Immune Cells Clean Brains During Sleep
- Fruit‑fly haemocytes (macrophage‑like immune cells) move to the brain surface during sleep and take up lipids.
- This lipid transfer chain — neurons → cortex glia → haemocytes — clears oxidative byproducts and supports memory, sleep and lifespan.
Sleep Is A Universal Housekeeping Window
- Sleep acts as a period for housekeeping across animals, including memory consolidation and clearing brain waste.
- The immune system can both be affected by sleep and actively contribute to sleep‑linked maintenance.
Discovery Began As A Happy Accident
- The project began as a 'happy accident' when a postdoc trained on Drosophila immune cells joined Amita Segal's lab.
- That background led them to visualize haemocytes in the head cavity and discover sleep‑linked accumulation.