Collaborative Research: Cholinergic and sleep regulation of human learning and memory

合作研究：人类学习和记忆的胆碱能和睡眠调节

• 批准号: 1439255
• 负责人: Michael Silver
• 金额: $ 10.62万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-09-01 至 2017-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1439255&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Cholinergic; sleep; regulation

The ability to learn and remember facts, experiences, and skills is critical for a wide range of human activities. Although how experience is encoded into memory, how such memory is then consolidated and later retrived have been extensively studied by psychologists and neuroscientists, a critical context in which memory processing taking place has been understudied. That is the natural rise and fall of the neurochemicals that are known to influence a wide range of brain functions through the sleep and wake cycles. Here Dr. Sara Mednick of the University of California, Riverside (UCR) and Dr. Michael Silver of the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) and their colleagues will investigate how acetylcholine (Ach), a major neuromodulator known to play a critical role in learning and memory, might differentially affect neural processing at the stages of encoding, consolidation, and retrieval. Rivastigmine a drug for treating Alzheimer's Disease, will be given to human subjects to increase Ach just before training (encoding), just after training (consolidation in the waking state), just before bedtime (sleep-dependent consolidation), and just before testing (retrieval). Brain electrical activity will be monitored using high-density electroencephalography (EEG) to characterize how different cortical regions are affected by both natural variations in ACH associated with sleep-wake cycles and by pharmacological treatment. Together, these experiments will provide the critical empirical data to test theories of learning and memory that take into consideration of dynamic changes in neuromodulationAcetylcholine has been associated with Alzheimer's disease, a neurodegenerative disease that affects over 5 million Americans. Better understanding of ACh's role in mechanisms of memory will help treat patients with the disease and also develop tools for enhancing healthy memory as well. A better understanding of neurochemical mechanisms of learning and memory will also help improve educational practice and applied training regimes, and investigations of the role of sleep in this project will help emphasize the importance of sleep in a society that has record low levels of sleep and impaired functioning due to poor sleep habits. Dr. Mednick and Dr. Silver will develop teaching modules and courses on the roles of sleep and acetylcholine and learning and memory as well as a course on sleep methods that will help train students to conduct research in this area. Finally, Dr. Mednick will present public lectures on the health benefits of sleep at local Hispanic-serving public hospitals and will work with the UCR Health Center to promote napping and healthy sleep habits in college students through Nap-Ins and other university-wide events.

学习和记住事实、经验和技能的能力对于广泛的人类活动至关重要。 尽管心理学家和神经科学家已经广泛研究了如何将经验编码到记忆中，以及如何巩固和恢复这些记忆，但对记忆处理发生的关键背景还没有进行充分研究。 这是神经化学物质的自然上升和下降，已知这些神经化学物质会通过睡眠和觉醒周期影响广泛的大脑功能。 加州大学河滨分校 (UCR) 的 Sara Mednick 博士和加州大学伯克利分校 (UCB) 的 Michael Silver 博士及其同事将研究乙酰胆碱 (Ach)（一种已知在学习和记忆中发挥关键作用的主要神经调节剂）如何对编码、巩固和检索阶段的神经处理产生不同的影响。 卡巴拉汀是一种治疗阿尔茨海默病的药物，将在训练前（编码）、训练后（清醒状态巩固）、就寝前（睡眠依赖性巩固）和测试前（检索）给予人类受试者以增加 Ach。将使用高密度脑电图 (EEG) 监测脑电活动，以表征不同皮质区域如何受到与睡眠-觉醒周期相关的 ACH 自然变化和药物治疗的影响。总之，这些实验将为检验学习和记忆理论提供关键的经验数据，这些理论考虑到神经调节的动态变化。乙酰胆碱与阿尔茨海默病有关，阿尔茨海默病是一种影响超过 500 万美国人的神经退行性疾病。更好地了解乙酰胆碱在记忆机制中的作用将有助于治疗该疾病的患者，并开发增强健康记忆的工具。更好地了解学习和记忆的神经化学机制也将有助于改善教育实践和应用培训制度，并且对睡眠在该项目中的作用的调查将有助于强调睡眠在一个因不良睡眠习惯而导致睡眠水平较低和功能受损的社会中的重要性。 Mednick 博士和 Silver 博士将开发有关睡眠和乙酰胆碱的作用以及学习和记忆的教学模块和课程，以及睡眠方法课程，以帮助培训学生进行该领域的研究。最后，梅德尼克博士将在当地为西班牙裔服务的公立医院举办有关睡眠对健康益处的公开讲座，并将与加州大学河滨分校健康中心合作，通过 Nap-Ins 和其他全校范围内的活动，促进大学生午睡和健康的睡眠习惯。