Cerebral Protein Synthesis During Sleep and Memory Consolidation

National Institute Of Mental Health

Investigators

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Abstract

During the FY 2018 funding period, we addressed the following: In collaboration with our colleagues from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (T Balkin) and NINDS (D. Picchioni), we applied the L-1-C-11leucine positron emission tomography (PET) method to measure rCPS in humans during sleep. To address the restoration hypothesis of sleep, we measure rCPS in the same participant during normal wakefulness, sleep-deprived wakefulness, and sleep. We hypothesize that rCPS is increased during sleep, but that during sleep-deprived wakefulness, rCPS remain at levels comparable to rested wakefulness. Participants undergo the initial scan in the awake, sleep-sated state. Participants are then kept awake over the next 30 h and subsequently undergo a second PET scan in the sleep-deprived but awake state. Participants are then encouraged to sleep in the scanner while they undergo a third scan during slow wave sleep. Participants are healthy male and female volunteers between the ages of 18 and 28 y. We exclude participants with a history of neurological and psychiatric disorders, chronic medical conditions, and sleep disorders. Our preliminary results indicate no differences in rCPS during slow wave sleep. We continue to work on a manuscript reporting results of these studies.