Modafinil protects hippocampal neurons by suppressing excessive autophagy and apoptosis in mice with sleep deprivation.

These results suggested that modafinil alleviated impaired learning and memory of sleep-deprived mice potentially by suppressing excessive autophagy and apoptosis of hippocampal neurons. This novel mechanism may add to our knowledge of modafinil in the clinical treatment of impaired memory caused by sleep loss.