Neuropeptide S overcomes short term memory deficit induced by sleep restriction by increasing prefrontal cortex activity

Abstract

Sleep restriction (SR) impairs short term memory (STM) that might be related to different processes. Neuropeptide S (NPS), an endogenous neuropeptide that improves short term memory, activates arousal and decreases anxiety is likely to counteract the SR-induced impairment of STM. The objective of the present study was to find common cerebral pathways in sleep restriction and NPS action in order to ultimately antagonize SR effect on memory. The STM was assessed using a spontaneous spatial alternation task in a T-maze. C57-Bl/6J male mice were distributed in 4 groups according to treatment (0.1nmol of NPS or vehicle intracerebroventricular injection) and to 20h-SR. Immediately after behavioural testing, regional c-fos immunohistochemistry was performed and used as a neural activation marker for spatial short term memory (prefrontal cortex, dorsal hippocampus) and emotional reactivity (basolateral amygdala and ventral hippocampus). Anxiety-like behaviour was assessed using elevated-plus maze task. Results showed that SR impaired short term memory performance and decreased neuronal activation in cingular cortex.NPS injection overcame SR-induced STM deficits and increased neuronal activation in infralimbic cortex. SR spared anxiety-like behavior in the elevated-plus maze. Neural activation in basolateral nucleus of amygdala and ventral hippocampus were not changed after SR.In conclusion, the present study shows that NPS overcomes SR-induced STM deficits by increasing prefrontal cortex activation independently of anxiety-like behaviour.

Decreased Information Replacement of Working Memory After Sleep Deprivation: Evidence From an Event-Related Potential Study

“…However, other reports have indicated a decrease in the activation of the parietal cortex after sleep deprivation (Almklov et al, 2015). Moreover, the results revealed that the decrease in activation was significantly correlated with a decrease in short-term memory after sleep deprivation (Adrienne, 2013; Xie et al, 2015; Nicolas et al, 2016; Julien et al, 2017). Previous study using an n-back task to test WM in participants who had been sleep-deprived for 24 h found that sleep deprivation leads to a reduction in metabolic activity in the brain’s regional network (prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate gyrus, thalamus, and cerebellum) mainly involved in information processing and executive control (Choo et al, 2005).…”

Dissociative Effects of Neuropeptide S Receptor Deficiency and Nasal Neuropeptide S Administration on T-Maze Discrimination and Reversal Learning

“…The scientific rationale of our study was based on literature findings demonstrating that NPS administration had beneficial effects on learning and memory [ 35 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 ]. However, the effect of NPS administration on cognitive flexibility has not previously been tested.…”

“…For example, NPS administration enhances inhibitory avoidance learning [ 35 ], while NPS deficiency reduces inhibitory avoidance learning [ 36 ]. NPS administration has memory-enhancing effects in novel object recognition and Morris water maze [ 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 ] and is able to rescue memory deficits in these and other tests [ 38 , 39 , 41 ]. So far, the question of whether the NPS system is involved in cognitive flexibility has not been addressed.…”

Roles of Neuropeptide S in Anesthesia, Analgesia, and Sleep

“…The sleep restriction reduced the neuronal activity of the mouse cingular cortex and inhibited the process of short-term memory. One nmol of NPS counteracted sleep deprivation-induced memory impairment by activating the neuronal activity of the cingular cortex responsible for memory-related processes [ 71 ]. This sleep disorder resulted in several sequelae across various systems, including the respiratory, cardiovascular, and central nervous systems.…”