How sleep deprivation impairs memory
Sleep deprivation impairs learning and memory. Tudor et al. (see also the Focus by Sweatt and Hawkins) found that sleep deprivation in mice suppressed activation of the kinase complex mTORC1 and consequently protein synthesis in hippocampal neurons, which impaired their memory. Restoring protein synthesis by increasing the amount of phosphorylated 4EBP2 protein in the hippocampus—a function normally performed by mTORC1—protected mice from the memory impairment caused by sleep deprivation. The findings reveal a molecular mechanism by which sleep loss impairs memory.
