Protein production prevents sleep-loss forgetfulness
Mice studies show how lack of shut-eye impairs memory
WASHINGTON — Losing sleep damages the brain’s ability to make memory-building proteins, new research in mice suggests.
Raising protein production in one of the brain’s learning and memory centers erased the forgetfulness that comes with sleep deprivation, neuroscientist Jennifer Tudor of the University of Pennsylvania reported November 17 at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience.
Tudor and her colleagues have been trying to identify the molecular fingerprint that sleep deprivation leaves on the hippocampus, a seahorse-shaped brain structure involved in forming and solidifying memories. Previously, the researchers discovered that keeping mice up late altered the activity of more than 500 genes. Among those genes were some involved in the protein-building process known as translation.