title: Diminished nap effects on memory consolidation are seen under oral contraceptive use.
abstract: Many young females take exogenous hormones as oral contraceptive (OC), a condition rarely controlled for in studies on sleep and memory consolidation even though sex hormones influence consolidation. This study investigated the effects of OCs on sleep-related consolidation of a motor and declarative task, utilizing a daytime nap protocol. Fifteen healthy, young females taking OCs came to the sleep lab for three different conditions: nap with previous learning, wake with previous learning and nap without learning. They underwent each condition twice, once during the "pill-active" weeks and once during the "pill-free" week, resulting in 6 visits. In all conditions, participants showed a significant off-line consolidation effect, independent of pill week or nap/wake condition. There were no significant differences in sleep stage duration, spindle activity or spectral EEG frequency bands between naps with or without the learning condition. The present data showed a significant off-line enhancement in memory irrespective of potential beneficial effects of a nap. In comparison to previous studies, this may suggest that the use of OCs may enhance off-line memory consolidation in motor and verbal tasks per se. These results stress the importance to control for the use of OCs in studies focusing on memory performance.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Genzel
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bäurle
authors.forename: Alina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Potyka
authors.forename: Renate
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wehrle
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Adamczyk
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Friess
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Steiger
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dresler
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D003278:Contraceptives, Oral, Hormonal / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D012890:Sleep / Q000187:drug effects*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D003278:Contraceptives, Oral, Hormonal