The inflammatory nexus: Mechanisms linking sleep disorders to neural damage and therapeutic strategies

Inflammation is a significant contributor to neural damage. Sleep disorders, particularly sleep deprivation, have been shown to induce neurological dysfunction and contribute to multiple sleep disorder comorbidities by activating microglia and astrocytes, disrupting the integrity of the blood-brain barrier and gut barrier, promoting peripheral immune cell infiltration, and triggering systemic inflammation. In recent years, intervention strategies targeting inflammatory pathways have demonstrated therapeutic potential, suggesting that regulating neuroinflammatory responses may be an important direction for improving neuropathology associated with sleep disorders. This article systematically reviews the inflammatory mechanisms underlying sleep disorders and their comorbidities, summarizes therapeutic drugs developed in the past decade targeting these mechanisms, and aims to provide new perspectives for future research.