Impact of Maternal Sleep Deprivation and Caffeine Consumption on Neurodevelopmental and Behavioural Outcomes in Young Rats

Abstract

Caffeine is a neurostimulant, which has been shown to be both cognitive‐enhancing and sleep‐disrupting. Several reports agree that caffeine and sleep deprivation have opposing effects on behaviours, including cogntive and depressive behaviours. Therefore, this study was designed to evaluate the neurodevelopmental and behavioural outcomes following prenatal and postnatal caffeine treatment and chronic sleep deprivation in rats. Pregnant Long‐Evans rats were sleep‐deprived 8 h/day in the last trimester of gestation using the platform‐over‐water sleep deprivation model; and treated orally with 120 mg/kg of caffeine from gestation day 8 and throughout lactation. Learning and memory, social, anxiety‐like and depressive‐like behaviours were assessed in the prepubescent rats (Postnatal Date 35). The young rats exhibited a higher anxiety level, as revealed by higher open field entry frequencies. They performed poorly in the novel object recognition test, and displayed abnormal sociability and social novelty in the social tests. Additionally, there was decreased hippocampal serotonergic activity and a marked reduction in synaptic protein expression in the CA1 hippocampal region, the prefrontal cortex and amygdala. Taken together, this study suggests that prenatal and postnatal sleep deprivation and caffeine consumption can interfere with brain development and thus impact behavioural outcomes, which could increase susceptibility to neurological disorders in adulthood.