Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)-funded researchers developed a nasal spray of a brain peptide, Hypocretin-1 (orexin A), that stimulates wakefulness. Previous studies have shown this effect of Hypocretin-1 on other animals, such as rats, but this latest study looked at nonhuman primates (rhesus monkeys) and at a new nasal spray administration method. The researchers found that sleep deprived monkeys (30-36h) who received Hypocretin-1 performed better on short-term memory tasks, which are measures of the effects of sleep deprivation, than sleep deprived monkeys who did not receive the drug. When given Hypocretin-1, sleep deprived monkeys preformed about as well as non-sleep-deprived monkeys. Hypocretin-1 also removed all visible signs of sleepy minds in PET scans. Basically, it countered the effects of sleep deprivation.
They found that the nasal spray was more efficacious than the intravenous injection. The performance of non-sleep deprived monkeys was not affected by the drug through either delivery method, except at the highest dose.
I wonder how long this effect would last, how many nights you could go without impaired cognition, and how many adverse events are associated with its use. It studied short term memory, but doesn’t long term memory need REM to be processed? A meta-study by the same researcher, Siegal, claims that no–there really isn’t much conclusive evidence that associates REM with memory consolidation.
This study appeals to my memories of a younger me, who thought, “If we could escape sleep, then nothing would stop us.” Through a series of exams, I came to understand that sleep is of the functional, not for the weak. For as Siegal says, “On the other hand, you’d have to be a fool to advocate taking this and reducing sleep as much as possible.”
I wonder if his advise will be heeded by his sponsors, the Department of Defense. To what wonderful use would they put an anti-sleep nasal spray? Not to combat narcolepsy, I’d assume. Not enough soldiers, eh? Too many people oppose the war? Maybe the soldiers you got just need to work constantly. For the purposes of the DOD, maybe workers don’t need sleep to do their job (kill, don’t think), but for me, I know better.
Yet, if spray does become available, I know I’d want a whiff now and again.
1 response so far ↓
Random Man // February 28, 2008 at 1:06 pm
As a veteran, and a sufferer of Narcolepsy, I often wondered why the military pharmacy had my medication, but I could not get it from there. So I asked the Pharmacist. I was informed that the medication I used to help get me through the day was used by the military for pilots going on excessively long flights (in excess of 24 hours). Makes sense to me that they would want something like this… (for reference, I was on Provigil at the time).
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