title: Signs of enhanced sleep and sleep-associated memory processing following the anti-inflammatory antibiotic minocycline in men.
abstract: Pro-inflammatory cytokines can promote sleep and neuronal processes underlying memory formation. However, this has mainly been revealed in animal studies. In this double-blind, placebo-controlled within-subject designed study, we examined how changes in the balance between pro- and anti-inflammatory signalling affect sleep and sleep-associated memory consolidation in humans. After learning declarative memory tasks (word pairs, texts) and a procedural memory task (finger tapping) in the evening, 21 healthy young men orally received either 200 mg of the anti-inflammatory antibiotic minocycline or placebo shortly before nocturnal sleep. Sleep was allowed between 23:00 and 07:00 h and recorded polysomnographically. Retrieval of memories was tested two days later. Because of outliers or missing data, final sample size was reduced to n = 14-19. Our data suggest that rather than weakening sleep as expected based on animal studies, the anti-inflammatory agent promoted sleep and memory consolidation. Specifically, minocycline increased slow-wave activity (0.68-4.0 Hz) during non-rapid eye movement sleep stage 2 and selectively enhanced episodic aspects in memory (i.e. memory for the temporal order of events in the texts). In combination with previous results, our findings indicate that, in humans, reducing pro-inflammatory signalling can act towards deepening non-rapid eye movement sleep and enhancing its memory forming efficacy.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Medical Psychology and Behavioural Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Luciana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Besedovsky
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Medical Psychology and Behavioural Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Eva-Maria
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Neuroendocrinology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Linz
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Medical Psychology and Behavioural Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Diekelmann
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Neuroendocrinology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.|3 Department of Rheumatology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.
authors.forename: Tanja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lange
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Medical Psychology and Behavioural Neurobiology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.|4 Centre for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.|5 German Centre for Diabetes Research (DZD), München-Neuherberg, Germany.|6 Institute for Diabetes Research and Metabolic Diseases of the Helmholtz Centre Munich at the University of Tübingen (IDM), Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Born
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects*; D000069077:Memory Consolidation / Q000187:drug effects; D008911:Minocycline / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012890:Sleep / Q000187:drug effects*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D008911:Minocycline
keywords: Minocycline; memory consolidation; neuroinflammation; sleep; slow-wave activity