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The incidence of sleep deprivation is increasing year by year and people are also paying more attention to the effects of sleep deprivation on the human body and on cognition. In addition, working memory is the foundation of many advanced cognitive functions. Therefore, we reviewed, herein, the relevant research literature on the influence of sleep deprivation on working memory, the relevant influencing factors, and possible mechanisms of action, intending to acquire a more thorough understanding of the effects of sleep deprivation on working memory and to provide evidence for scientific and sound strategies of sleep., (Copyright© by Editorial Board of Journal of Sichuan University (Medical Sciences).)

Objective: To observe the effect of rapid eye movement sleep deprivation (REMSD) for 5 days on depressive-like behavior and monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) expression in the amygdale of mice., Methods: Adult male C57BL/6J mice were divided into blank control group, control group and REMSD group. REMSD models were established by a modified multiple small platform method. The mice were examined for locomotive activity in open field test (OFT) and for depressive-like behavior in forced swimming test (FST) and sucrose preference test (SPT) after treatment. After all the tests, the protein and mRNA expressions of MAOA in the amygdala were detected with Western blotting and real-time PCR, respectively., Results: REMSD for 5 days significantly impaired the locomotive activity of the mice, which was obvious in 1 to 3 days after REMSD. The locomotive activity became normal on day 4 after the 5-day REMSD. The immobility time of the mice was lengthened in days 7 to 14 (P<0.01), and sucrose preference rate was reduced significantly in days 8 and 9 (P<0.01). The expression level of MAOA in the amygdala was increased significantly after the 5-day REMSD (P<0.01)., Conclusion: REMSD for 5 days causes delayed depressive-like behavior in mice possible in relation with the increased expression of MAOA in the amygdale.

Objective: To investigate the effects of sleep deprivation on intelligence development in primary school students., Methods: Between June 2009 and April 2010, 316 grade 5 students aged 10-11 years were selected from four primary schools in four administrative districts of Changsha, China by stratified random sampling. The intelligence characteristics of children with varying degrees of sleep deprivation were investigated using the Chinese Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children., Results: A total of 286 valid questionnaires were received, with a response rate of 90.5%. The survey was comprised of a sleep deprivation group (sleep time <8 hours per night; n=180) and a control group (sleep time ≥8 hours per night; n=106). The sleep deprivation group had significantly lower subtest scores, verbal intelligence quotient (IQ) (VIQ), performance IQ (PIQ) and full scale IQ (P<0.05) and significantly lower verbal comprehension factor score and memory/attention factor score compared with the control group (P<0.05). Compared with the control group, the moderate sleep deprivation subgroup had significantly decreased VIQ and full scale IQ as well as verbal comprehension factor score and memory/attention factor score (P<0.05), and the severe sleep deprivation subgroup showed decreases in all scores (P<0.05). The sleep deprivation group and moderate and severe sleep deprivation subgroups had significantly higher proportions of children with VIQ-PIQ imbalance than the control group., Conclusions: Sleep deprivation adversely affects intelligence development, especially VIQ, in primary school students, and the adverse effects of sleep deprivation are mainly seen in students with moderate and severe sleep deprivation.

Objective: To explore the effects of retinol acid (RA) and triiodothyronine (T3) on alleviating the impairment of cognitive function by sleep deprivation (SD)., Methods: Male Wistar rats were divided into 4 groups: control group (C group), sleep deprivation group (SD group), sleep deprivation + RA group (SD + RA group) and sleep deprivation + T3 group (SD + T3 group). Open field test (OFT) was used to observe the nervous behavior of the rats after SD and electrophysiological brain stereotactic method was used to test long-term potentiation (LTP) in dentate gyrus (DG) of the rats. Ng protein expression was determined by Western blot., Results: Compared with the SD group, the number of crossing in OFT, the changes of amplitude of population spike (PS) and the expression of Ng protein in hippocampus were higher significantly in the SD + RA and SD + T3 groups. All of these had not significant difference comparing with the C group., Conclusion: RA and T3 may alleviate the restrain state of neural system after SD by augmenting the expression of Ng protein in hippocampus.

Objective: To study the effect and mechanism of Soybean Isoflavones (SIF) on the cognitive performance of female mice after sleep deprivation for 72h., Method: Forty female mice were randomly divided into 5 groups:the control, sleep deprivation control (SDC), and three SIF groups (SIF L, SIF M and SIF H). SIF groups were administered by intra-gastric injection of SIF 20, 40 and 80 mg/kg bw respectively for 30 days. The control and SDC groups were administered with equal volume of normal saline. The 72h SD mice model was induced by the single platform technique. The cognitive ability of mice was tested by Y-maze. Antioxidant indicators (CAT, MDA and T-AOC) and neurotransmitters (NO, Glu and Ach) in cerebra were measured., Result: Compared with the control group, the cognitive abilities, CAT activities, T-AOC and Ach levels were decreased and NO, MDA and GLu contents were increased in mice after sleep deprivation for 72h. Compared with the SDC group, the cognitive abilities were improved and Ach contents were increased in SIF M and SIF H groups, T-AOC levels were improved in three SIF groups. CAT activities, MDA, NO and Glu contents were decreased in SIF H group only., Conclusion: The cognitive ability of 72h SD female mice could be improved by SIF, the mechanism of which might be involved in increasing antioxidant function, decreasing the damage of free radicals on cranial nerves and adjusting the neuron transmitter of cerebra.

Objective: The effects of sleep deprivation on the immature brain remain unknown. Based on a computer controlled chronic sleep deprivation animal model, the effects of chronic partial sleep deprivation on growth, learning and memory in young rats were explored., Methods: Twelve weaned male Spraque-Dawley rats (3-week-old) were randomly divided into sleep deprivation, test control and blank control groups. Sleep deprivation was performed using computer-controlled "disc-over-water" technique at 8-11 am daily, for 14 days. The temperature and weights were measured every 7 days. Morris water maze was used to test spatial learning and memory abilities before and 7 and 14 days after sleep deprivation. After 14 days of sleep deprivation, the rats were sacrificed for weighting their major organs., Results: After 14 days of sleep deprivation, the rats' temperature increased significantly. During the sleep deprivation, the rate of weight gain in the sleep deprivation group was much slower than that in the test control and blank control groups. The thymus of the rats subjected to sleep deprivation was much lighter than that of the blank control group. After 7 days of sleep deprivation, the rats showed slower acquisition of reference memory, but were capable of successfully performing the task by repeated exposure to the test. Such impairment of reference memory was not seen 14 days after sleep deprivation., Conclusions: Chronic sleep deprivation can affect growth of immature rats, as well as their abilities to acquire spatial reference memory.

Objective. To investigate the effects of sleep deprivation (SD) on human performance. Method. 8 healthy male college students participated the test. During 26 h of continuous awakeness (from 6:00 to 8:00 the next day), the volunteers were demanded to perform a battery of tests at 9 different time (7:00, 12:00, 16:00, 20:00, 0:00, 2:00, 4:00, 6:00, 8:00). The tests include: (1) single task: aural Oddball response, the response time (RT1) and correct rate (CR1) were recorded; (2) dual tasks: manual tracking and aural Oddball response, the response time (RT2), tracking error (ER) and correct rate (CR2) were recorded; (3) The Stanford sleepiness scale and subjective ratings of task difficulty access. Result. SD had significant effects on CT1, CT2 and ER (P=0.0001, P=0.00001, P=0.0004 respectively); SD increased RT1, RT2, ER at night time. SD had significant effects on SR, SSS score (P=0.0001, P=0.0000 respectively); SD increased SR, SSS score at night time. Since the subjects changed their response strategy, CR1 and CR2 were not influenced by SD at night time. Conclusion. SD has significant effects on response time, tracking error, subjective difficulty of cognitive tasks and subjective sleepiness.