Brain region that can be stimulated to reduce the cognitive deficits of sleep deprivation ...(athology in general said Yaakov Stern Ph...),Health

Date:2/1/2008

athology in general, said Yaakov Stern, Ph.D., a professor of clinical neuropsychology in neurology and psychiatry at the Taub Institute for the Research on Alzheimers Disease and the Aging Brain and the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center at Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Stern was principal investigator of the DARPA grant.

Findings were published online on Jan. 17, 2008 in Cerebral Cortex; the paper will be published in an upcoming print issue of the journal.

Study Designed to Test Sleep Deprivation Network, by Influencing the Expression of Key Brain Areas in the Network

In a previous study , the investigators identified a sleep deprivation network of brain areas that was active during the performance of a working memory task. Expression of this network was reduced following sleep deprivation. They also found a relationship between reduced expression of this network following sleep deprivation and poorer performance on the working memory task.

In the study, 15 young, healthy subjects underwent sleep deprivation for 48 hours. Working memory was tested using a letter recognition test, known as the delayed match to sample (DMS) task, in which subjects have to recall as quickly as possible whether a letter was included in a set of letters they had just seen. Participants performed this task during fMRI sessions both before sleep deprivation and at the conclusion of the sleep deprivation period.

The researchers used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to test whether stimulation of three brain regions in the previously identified network following the sleep deprivation period, could improve performance on the working memory task. rTMS administers a rapid sequence of magnetic pulses to a specific brain area.

Results showed that stimulation at a site over left lateral occipital cortex, a prominent part of the brain network identified with fMRI, resulted in a reduction of sleep-induced slo
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Contact: Elizabeth Streich eas2125@columbia.edu 212-305-6535 Columbia University Medical Center Source:Eurekalert

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