Drug Reverses Effects of Sleep Deprivation 610
Ryan O'Rourke writes "According to a study led by Dr. Sam A. Deadwyler and published by the Public Library of Science Biology, a new drug called CX717 developed by Cortex Pharmaceuticals has been shown to reverse the biological and behavioral effects of sleep deprivation. Tests performed on monkeys that were subjected to 30-36 hours of sleep deprivation revealed an average test performance accuracy drop to 63 percent, but that performance was restored to 84 percent after administering CX717. During normal alert conditions, performance accuracy of the animals was improved from an average of 75 percent to 90 percent after an injection of CX717. It is also believed the drug may help prevent or restore memory loss in Alzheimer's patients."
More links (Score:5, Informative)
Here [npr.org]
Re:Interesting... (Score:3, Informative)
My Own Research (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Sometimes it's good to forget. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Interesting... (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Don't ignore the signals. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Don't ignore the signals. (Score:2, Informative)
Sleep is important, and sleep deprivation shuldn;t be encouraged, but as a parent, I can vouch that there are unavoidable situations in which sleep simply isn't possible, and your are still required to be coherent and awake the next day. You will sleep when grandma gets here, but until then, you need help.
There are also obvious military applications. An exercise left to the reader.
That said, this study was done with monkeys. Earlier studies were done with undergraduates and hamsters. So we are a long way from having this drug legally in our hot little hands for human use.
Re:Interesting... (Score:2, Informative)
Why do we sleep?
So why do we sleep? This is a question that has baffled scientists for centuries and the answer is, no one is really sure. Some believe that sleep gives the body a chance to recuperate from the day's activities but in reality, the amount of energy saved by sleeping for even eight hours is miniscule - about 50 kCal, the same amount of energy in a piece of toast.
We have to sleep because it is essential to maintaining normal levels of cognitive skills such as speech, memory, innovative and flexible thinking. In other words, sleep plays a significant role in brain development.
Personally, I'm a fan of the "so you don't get eaten" school of thought. But really, we have no damn idea.
Re:Don't ignore the signals-NoDoze. (Score:3, Informative)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_familial_insom
It's an inherited 'prion' disease, the same type of disease as mad cow disease and it's relatives. Scary stuff.
Re:Interesting... (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/arti
Species Average total sleep time per day
Python 18 hrs
Tiger 15.8 hrs
Cat 12.1 hrs
Chimpanzee 9.7 hrs
Sheep 3.8 hrs
African elephant 3.3 hrs
Giraffe 1.9 hr
Re:Coming soon... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Oh boy (Score:2, Informative)
I think it's called Crystal Meth. Well, I'm sure they don't call it that....
Love your marketing plan for leprosy! (Score:3, Informative)
I know. It hurts. Leave me alone until I get to the hospital.
Because if you can consciously 'snooze' nerves, you will reinjure yourself by trying to do stuff you shouldn't. (My knee hurts, so I think I'll just shut that pain down... Oops, I guess it wasn't good to try to push the accelerator normally on my way to the hospital. Is that supposed to bend that way?)
Leprosy isn't associated with immediate mortality. People die of it indirectly, though, because they don't have the nerve feedback they need to protect themselves. Your conscious snooze system would run the same risks.
Meanwhile the body does prevent you from feeling pain in some circumstances. People who break their legs can get past the point where they feel the pain any more. And the body sort of knows when that'd be best, for my money, better than I would.
If you'd like to start shutting stuff down, I suggest bowing to the hystrionic news coverage from a couple of years back and turning off your car's airbag system. Just for starters.
Re:Coming soon... (Score:2, Informative)
You CAN get cocaine for prescription use, so stop acting like you have any knowledge of the subject.
It is a Schedule 2 drug, meaning it has VERY LIMITED and specific medical uses, and requires a TON of hoop jumping to get.
BUT, if you do eye surgery, cocaine is often the anesthetic of choice.
Look it up, then come back and eat your crow.
Re:Is CX717 a.... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Coming soon... (Score:5, Informative)
Nope. Cocaine is illegal because of racism. The fear was that "Negro Cocaine Fiends" have an insatiable need for white women. These "Cocainized Niggers" were ostensibly immune to gun fire. The terms in quotes are actual quotes from newspapers.
Sounds like a bunch of quacks to me (Score:4, Informative)
If any medical person was to suggest that I would immediately dismiss him as a total quack. There is NO SUCH THING as an outside environmental influence that affects just one portion of the body. "Cleaning up the clutter" in your brain is only one effect of sleep. Your brain isn't a computer hard drive that needs defragging every night--it is much more complex than that and what affects the brain can affect any and all other parts of the body. There are autonomic responses that change when the brain is asleep vs. awake, changes to hormone levels, etc. that without doubt promote regeneration of the body. Sure, you can rest your skeletal muscles and let them rebuild without actually sleeping, but you cannot consciously control your heartbeat, muscles controlling your GI tract, the levels of hormones in your bloodstream and so on, so how can you expect to simulate the effects of sleep without actually sleeping?
Beyond that, even if sleep was only about the brain, can you imagine the psychological effects of an accumulation of "weak memories" or excessively prolonged conscious brain activity? At best I think you'd end up being an ADD-like basket case. At worst you could go clinically insane.
I think that should such a drug that counteracts the symptoms of sleep deprivation become widely available those who abuse it would reveal to us a whole host of side effects related to lack of sleep never before encountered. Apart from degrading mental health I think that people would physically age faster without sleep. Look at drug addicts today-sometimes they start out as "normal", smart, professional people that fro some reason get caught in an addiction. Early in the addiction they can function amazingly well with little or no sleep, but they slowly degrade as they fry their brains. While they are hooked these addicts age twice as fast as normal--even if they never end up on the street addicts in their 30s look like they are 50.
This drug is like methadone--it is cocaine or speed without the highly addictive properties and some of the other adverse side effects. I believe that further, long-term/multi-year studies would reveal that the test animals might show good performance initially, but in a few years they'd look like junkies--even if they are still more mentally alert. I forsee similar results in humans--they might be very productive and alert compard to heroin addicts, but they'll look just as old and worn out.
Why another drug? We already have modafinil... (Score:2, Informative)
The trick is to sell modafinil on the streets (no need to sleep for a week! w00t!), and use the surplus doctor/nurse shifts to treat those with the minor side effects. And extra police hours to tackle the odd abuser. Sorted.
Re:Why in the world would you say that? (Score:5, Informative)
I've seen you repeat this several times now - in what way does Ritalin "have the same effects" as speed?
Both Ritalin (called Methylphenidate in its non-brand name) and Speed (phenylisopropylamine) operate in a similar manner - both prevent the reabsorbtion of monoamine transporters for dopamine and norepinephrine which results in increased amounts of dopamine and norepinephrine in the brain. This promotes nerve impulse transmission in neurons that have those receptors. The effect is something you're probably familiar with (either through experience or second-hand).
Likewise you can get the same high from snorting ritalin (powder it first unless you have biiig nostrils) as you can from speed, and you can get addicted to it too. Both are also used by students and workers desperate to keep focused on a project in that final night of panic. It's just the same as speed for practical purposes. Ritalin doesn't come in huge dosages (per pill), but then they are prescribing it to children.
Unfortunate news. (Score:3, Informative)
Although sleep is still mostly a mystery, it is clear that it performs some sort of restorative effect. Does anyone know how this drug works and if it just blocks the symptoms of sleepiness?
Get your 8 hours a night!
Re:Coming soon... (Score:5, Informative)