Effects of Sleep Deprivation in Young and Adult Rats: An Assessment of Memory and Anxiety

Abstract

: As an important issue, sleep deprivation influences the cognition and mood of society. It both causes different effects on various individuals and age groups. However, the effects on various age groups are not well studied. The present study, which used a rat model of sleep deprivation, investigated the learning and memory status of sleep-deprived (SD) rats. Two groups of young and adult rats underwent 96 h of REM sleep deprivation by the inverted flowerpot method. Control groups were in the same condition but were could sleep normally. In behavioral groups, anxiety was assessed by an elevated plus-maze. Six weeks later, spatial memory was evaluated using the Morris water maze, and fear memory was assessed by passive avoidance learning. Based on the findings, SD increases anxiety in young rats. Regarding the spatial memory, young SD rats showed impairment in retrieval, but adult SD rats failed to learn the task as effectively as the controls. Memory retrieval in the passive avoidance task was impaired only in the adult SD rats. A different stage of memory affected by sleep deprivation in young and adult rats reflected varying mechanisms in these two age groups.