Previous studies has associated better memory with more sleep, but new research from the Washington University School of Medicine has shown that getting more sleep can help the brain withstand severe neurological defects that may have a hand in blocking the formation of memories.
In a study published in the journal Current Biology, researchers discussed working with three groups of flies, each one representing a disabled gene critical to memory. In one group, disabling a gene led to the flies developing a condition highly similar to Alzheimer's disease, while in another, the disabled gene made it hard for brain cells in flies to strengthen new connections made that retain memories. In the last group, disrupting a gene resulted in the flies developing too many of the connections lacking in the previous group.
Paul Shaw, a neurobiology associate professor and a senior author for the study, explained that the results of the study revealed that extra sleep can take care of the problems presented by disabling the memory genes. It has to be the right kind of sleep though, he pointed out.
"We're not sure how to induce this kind of slumber in the human brain yet, but our research suggests that if we can learn how, it could have significant therapeutic potential," added Shaw.
He and colleagues worked with fruit flies because their brains feature mechanisms for sleep control highly similar to what the human brain uses.
As part of the study, memory was restored in each of the groups of flies through different techniques all geared towards increasing sleep. These techniques involve the stimulation of a cluster of important brain cells, the administration of a drug that mimics how an important chemical messenger acts and the boosting of production for a certain protein associated with sleep.
Whatever technique the researchers used, they saw that getting extra sleep (equivalent to three to four hours of sleep over the course of as little as two days) resulted in restoring the ability to make memories in flies.
The researchers noted that adding hours of sleep did not bring back the function of the memory-related disabled gene. However, while sleep was not able to retrieve the missing gene, it was able to come up with ways to work around physiological problems.
Aside from reinforcing connections necessary for encoding important memories, Shaw and colleagues believe sleep aids the brain as well in cutting back on connections processing useless information.
