Retrograde Amnesia: Electroconvulsive Shock Effects after Termination of Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Deprivation

Abstract

Mice that were deprived of rapid eye movement sleep for 2 days immediately after one-trial training in an inhibitory avoidance task and were given an electroconvulsive shock after deprivation displayed retrograde amnesia on a retention test given 24 hours later. Electroconvulsive shock produced no amnesia in comparable groups of animals that were not deprived of rapid eye movement sleep.

Sleep and plasticity

“…The involvement of sleep with learning and memory has been extensively demonstrated in various animal models including humans [23, 25, 29, 30, 35, 50, 51, 57, 58, 60, 62, 70, 75–77, 83, 87, 89, 105, 118, 119, 136–140, 143, 144, 147, 150, 151]. Furthermore, several electrophysiological and imaging studies provide comprehensive support and mechanistic basis for the notion that sleep promotes cognitive processing [22, 37, 53, 54, 59, 61, 67, 71, 80, 82, 83, 88, 90, 98, 99, 104, 109, 117, 148].…”

Delayed Onset of a Daytime Nap Facilitates Retention of Declarative Memory

“…Based on differing evidence within the literature, we undertook the experiment with competing hypotheses with regard to the temporal relationship between sleep and performance. One hypothesis, supported by the majority of the literature and based on the idea that a window of time exists in which consolidation must occur [34], [35], predicted that as the delay between learning and sleep extended, the memory trace would degrade, resulting in a decrease in performance at retest. The opposing hypothesis, based on the idea that sleep can actively retain or recover memories [28], [29], [36], [37], predicted that all sleep groups would perform equally, and superior to the wake group, regardless of the length of the imposed delay.…”

Neural excitability after paradoxical sleep deprivation: A replication and further examination

“…A shortening of the tonic phase of the convulsion is also observed in the PS-deprived animals; these findings suggest that PS-deprived animals receiving compensatory brain stimulation undergo a less severe convulsion. The experimental findings are interpreted to suggest that PS deprivation produces a central-neural change, during which time the brain is much more susceptible to agents that produce amnesia.We have recently produced data showing that electroconvulsive shock (ECS) administered systematically to mice after paradoxical sleep deprivation (PSD), produces memory disruption (retrograde amnesia) by either: (1) interfering with the maintenance of memory (Fishbein, 1971;Fishbein, McGaugh, & Swarz, 1971 and confirmed by Wolfowitz andHoldstock, 1971, in the rat), or by (2) prolonging the fixation phase of the memory-consolidation gradient (Fishbein, 1972). In effect, it appears that PSD prolongs the time that ECS is an effective amnesic agent.…”

“…We have recently produced data showing that electroconvulsive shock (ECS) administered systematically to mice after paradoxical sleep deprivation (PSD), produces memory disruption (retrograde amnesia) by either: (1) interfering with the maintenance of memory (Fishbein, 1971;Fishbein, McGaugh, & Swarz, 1971 and confirmed by Wolfowitz andHoldstock, 1971, in the rat), or by (2) prolonging the fixation phase of the memory-consolidation gradient (Fishbein, 1972). In effect, it appears that PSD prolongs the time that ECS is an effective amnesic agent.…”