Modafinil prevents inhibitory avoidance memory deficit induced by sleep deprivation in rats
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Updated: Jun 11, 2026

A Chronic Sleep Fragmentation Model using Vibrating Orbital Rotor to Induce Cognitive Deficit and Anxiety-Like Behavior in Young Wild-Type Mice
Published on: September 22, 2020
Karin Monteiro Moreira1, Tatiana Lima Ferreira, Debora Cristina Hipolide
1Department of Psychobiology, Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Study Objectives:
Evaluation of modafinil effects on the inhibitory avoidance task (IA).
Design:
Rats were trained on a multiple trial IA task after receiving modafinil or vehicle injections. In experiment 1 they were trained with a weak protocol under baseline condition and in experiment 2, with a stronger protocol under sleep-deprivation condition.
Results:
In experiment 1 modafinil improved rats' acquisition whereas the retention test remained unaffected. In Experiment 2 modafinil did not interfere with training performance, but the lower dose prevented the retention impairment in sleep-deprived animals.
Conclusions:
Modafinil is able to improve acquisition in normal rats and reverse the long-term memory impairment induced by sleep-deprivation.
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