Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Hartmann, Ernest
• Stern, Warren C.

Titel

Desynchronized sleep deprivation: Learning deficit and its reversal by increased catecholamines

Ist Teil von

• Physiology & behavior, 1972-04, Vol.8 (4), p.585-587

Ort / Verlag

United States: Elsevier Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

1972

Quelle

Elsevier Journal Backfiles on ScienceDirect (DFG Nationallizenzen)

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Four days of desynchronized sleep (D) deprivation (island technique) produced a significant deficit in subsequent acquisition of an active avoidance task in the rat. Four days of repeated stress resulting in similar adrenal and thymus changes had no effect on acquisition. L-dopa 200 mg/kg in normals produced a significant deficit in acquisition, but L-dopa after four days of D-deprivation resulted in normal acquisition. (Thus L-dopa reversed the learning deficits produced by D-deprivation, an effect we have shown previously for MAO inhibitors and imipramine.) Alpha-methylparatyrosine also produced a deficit in avoidance acquisition, and L-dopa significantly reduced this deficit, suggesting that the catecholamine increase produced by L-dopa is involved. We suggest that D-deprivation produces defects in the functioning of central catecholaminergic neuronal systems, and that the defects are reversible by increasing the availability of catecholamines.