The Effects of Selected Drugs on the Memory Recall of Sleep Deprived Mice

Humans often make use of the neurotransmission altering effects of drugs such as caffeine, ephedrine, and ethanol. These drugs induce changes in memory and learning ability, specifically when used for sleep deprivation. English white mice (Mus musculus) have been shown to exhibit similar cognitive changes when administered drugs while sleep deprived. A sample of 20 mice was divided into three experimental groups (each group receiving a different drug) and one control group. Maze-testing demonstrated that mice performance decreased with sleep deprivation (Treatment-1) but all groups returned to baseline performance when injected (IP) with selected drugs (Treatment-2), regardless of the selected drug. However, in the absence of sleep deprivation, each drug showed less of an effect. Caffeine and ephedrine produced no significant differences between themselves, and alcohol treatment decreased performance. Overall, sleep deprivation decreases memory recall performance in mice. Drug use can counterbalance those effects of fatigue. However, on non-fatigued mice, caffeine and ephedrine demonstrated no positive effect, while alcohol demonstrated a negative effect on performance