Researchers at the National University of Singapore’s Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine report that caffeine helped reverse sleep deprivation-related deficits in social recognition memory in laboratory mice, an effect tied to synaptic function in the hippocampal CA2 region. The findings were published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.
Researchers at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore examined how short-term sleep loss affects “social memory,” the ability to recognize familiar individuals.
In laboratory experiments, the team induced five hours of sleep deprivation in animals and then provided caffeine mixed into drinking water for unrestricted consumption for seven days, according to a university press release carried by ScienceDaily.
The researchers conducted electrophysiological recordings on hippocampal samples to assess synaptic plasticity. They reported that sleep deprivation disrupted the maintenance of synaptic plasticity and weakened communication between neurons in the hippocampal CA2 region, alongside measurable deficits in social recognition memory.
After caffeine treatment, the team said synaptic communication and plasticity in CA2 returned to typical levels and that the social recognition memory deficits observed after sleep loss were reversed. The researchers described the effect as pathway-specific rather than a broad increase in neural activity.
The work was led by Associate Professor Sreedharan Sajikumar and first author Dr. Lik-Wei Wong, the release said.
