The Williams-Beuren syndrome (WBS), a genetic disorder caused by the hemizygous microdeletion of a region in chromosome 7q11.23 presents an apparent social skill that contrasts with the low global and visuo-spatial cognitive performance, with problems in the receptive, structural and semantic forms of communication, besides deficits in attention, hyperactivity and impairment in visuospatial memory. Another feature is disorders of the sleep-wake cycle with ineffectiveness sleep, resistance to going to bed, waking at night and drowsiness during the day. A possibility not yet explored for this disturbance would be the abnormal pattern in the hormone melatonin that modulate the sleep quality. Considering that the sleep quality is essential for the proper development of cognitive functions, the aim of this literature review was found studies that investigated separately and correlated these three aspects in Williams-Beuren syndrome: sleep-wake, memory and melatonin. In search of data was used Medline/Pubmed, SciELO and Lilacs databases, using the keywords: "Williams Beuren syndrome, memory, sleep-wake and melatonin" separately or using the connective "AND". The literature review showed that there was no studies that correlated these three aspects nor to investigated melatonin in WBS. The investigations on sleep and memory are critically discussed in this work that shows that new studies are necessary to correlate memory, sleep-wake and melatonin in WBS as well as behavioral, cognitive and biochemical aspects related to them.
Sleep; Wakefulness; Memory; Melatonin; Williams-Beuren syndrome; Developmental Disabilities
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