Implications of Anesthetics on Sleep Consolidation

Phase 4

Terminated

Conditions: Sleep

Interventions: Drug: Dexmedetomidine

Registration Number: NCT04329091

Lead Sponsor: University of Chicago

Brief Summary: Sleep leads to consolidation of learning in humans, restoring memories that were forgotten over a waking day and protecting memories against future forgetting. Although theories of consolidation have linked sleep spindles seen on electroencephalography to consolidation due to their putative role in hippocampal transfer to the neocortex (Antony et al, 2019; Antony \& Paller, 2017), spindles have not yet been linked to consolidation of perceptual learning or generalized learning. Prior research by a collaborator on this project has shown that sleep specifically aids in the consolidation of generalized perceptual learning of speech (Fenn, Nusbaum, \& Margoliash, 2003). Subjects show a 10-point reduction in performance after a waking retention period, while no loss is found after a retention period containing sleep (Fenn et al., 2003).

Various measurable activities in the brain are associated with memory consolidation during sleep. This project intends study the effect of dexmedetomidine on memory consolidation during sleep

Hypothesis 1 The gain in perceptual learning after a 90 minute natural sleep nap will also occur after 90 minutes of a sufficient dose of IV dexmedetomidine to replicate sleep. This result would suggest that consolidation can occur under this anesthetic state of consciousness.

Hypothesis 2 The number and quality of sleep spindles seen on EEG in subjects administered dexmedetomidine will correlate with this gain in perceptual learning. This result would suggest that biomimetic sleep spindles are sufficient for producing memory consolidation.

Only those subjects capable of giving their own consent will be considered for this study.

The study will enroll 20 healthy subjects for this study between the ages of 18 and 35.

All volunteers will be fit and healthy, meeting the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status classification ASA 1 (normal healthy subjects) and ASA 2 (stable chronic condition) and of normal body habitus. Prior to the study enrollment, each volunteer will sign an informed consent form. A standard anesthetic medical history will be taken in addition to performing a focused standard pre-anesthetic physical examination in order to rule out active and chronic medical problems.

Detailed Description: Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: TERMINATED

Sex: All

Target Recruitment: 9

Inclusion Criteria

Not provided

Exclusion Criteria

Not provided

Study & Design

Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL

Study Design: SINGLE_GROUP

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Dexmedetomidine Arm	Dexmedetomidine	Dexmedetomidine: Administration of a 0.5 mcg/kg bolus followed by an infusion of 0.5-0.7 mcg/kg/hr, titrated up by 0.1 mcg every 1 minute until the subject spontaneously closes his or her eyes. When the subject spontaneously closes his or her eyes the infusion continues for 90 minutes from that point.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Perceptual Learning Protocol	1 day	Subjects are tested in the morning for word recognition on hard-to-understand speech, then trained on this speech (never hearing the same words twice) which produces about 20 percentage points of improvement. After sedation subjects are re-tested. During the morning, afternoon and evening post-tests, subjects will be tested on new spoken words. At each time point where the perceptual learning protocol is administered the number of words correctly perceived out of 50 will be measured.

Secondary Outcome Measures