Research in monkeys suggests that a new drug can temporarily improve performance and reverse the effects of sleep deprivation on the brain.

The drug, currently known as CX717, is designed to act on a type of receptor located throughout the brain that is involved in cell-to-cell communication. It has been tested in sleep-deprived humans with positive results, according to the developer, Cortex Pharmaceuticals.

Researchers from North Carolina's Wake Forest University hope it could help people like doctors, military personnel, shift workers and others who must function at top performance in spite of sleep deficits.

The study was partly funded by the US Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency as part of a project to reduce of eliminate the effects of sleep deprivation on soldiers.

"In addition to improving performance under normal conditions, the drug restored performance that was impaired after sleep loss," said Samuel Deadwyler, of who led the Wake Forest University School of Medicine research.

Researcher Samuel Deadwyler: "In addition to improving performance under normal conditions, the drug restored performance that was impaired after sleep loss."

"Brain imaging revealed that one basis for the drug’s effects was to reverse changes in brain patterns induced by sleep deprivation."

The researchers first tested normal, alert monkeys on a matching task similar to a video game. Each monkey was shown one clip art picture at one position on the screen, and after a delay of one to 30 seconds, picked the original out of a random display of two to six different images to get a juice reward. The monkeys were then given varying doses of the drug and re-tested. At the highest dose tested, the drug improved performance to near perfect for the easier trials and by about 15 per cent overall.

Next, the monkeys were tested after they were sleep-deprived for 30 to 36 hours, which Deadwyler estimates is equivalent to humans going 72 hours without sleep. When compared to when they were alert, the monkeys’ overall performance was reduced under all test conditions, even on the easiest trials. But, when the monkeys were again sleep-deprived and re-tested after being given CX717, their performance was restored to normal levels.

The researchers used positron emission tomography (PET) to gain images of brain activity while the animals were performing the matching task. These scans showed that the drug was able to reverse most of the changes in activity patterns that occurred with sleep deprivation - which may explain its success at increasing performance.

The PET images showed that when the monkeys were performing the task while sleep-deprived, activity in the frontal cortex, an area of the brain associated with higher mental processing, decreased and activity in the temporal lobe, associated with memory for recent events, increased.

The researchers suspect that this might be the brain’s way of compensating for the effects of sleep deprivation. After the drug was administered, the brain patterns in these regions returned to normal.

Deadwyler added: "The effect was to reverse the patterns of activation to the same as when the animal performed the task under normal conditions.

"The drug didn’t cause overall brain arousal, but increased the ability of certain affected areas to become active in a normal, non-sleep-deprived manner.

"It’s possible that the drug could also be used to enhance other cognitive deficits, such as occur in Alzheimer’s disease, after a stroke or other forms of dementia."