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Updated: May 28, 2026

Polygraphic Recording Procedure for Measuring Sleep in Mice
Published on: January 25, 2016
Modafinil treatment prevents REM sleep deprivation-induced brain function impairment by increasing MMP-9 expression
1Department of Neurology, Institute of Neuroscience and MOE Key Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology, Neuroscience Research Center of Changzheng Hospital, Second Military Medical University, 415 Fengyang Road, Shanghai 200003, China
Abstract:
Previous work showed that sleep deprivation (SD) impairs hippocampal-dependent cognitive function and synaptic plasticity, and a novel wake-promoting agent modafinil prevents SD-induced memory impairment in rat. However, the mechanisms by which modafinil prevented REM-SD-induced impairment of brain function remain poorly understood. In the present study, rats were sleep-deprived by using the modified multiple platform method and brain function was detected. The results showed that modafinil treatment prevented REM-SD-induced impairment of cognitive function. Modafinil significantly reduced the number of errors compared to placebo and upregulated synapsin I expression in the dorsal hippocampal CA3 region. A synaptic plasticity-related gene, MMP-9 expression was also upregulated in modafinil-treated rats. Importantly, downregulation of MMP-9 expression by special siRNA decreased synapsin I protein levels and synapse numbers. Therefore, we demonstrated that modafinil increased cognition function and synaptic plasticity, at least in part by increasing MMP-9 expression in REM-SD rats.
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