Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23616711›Full record

ArticleNature and science of sleep2010

Effect of taurine and caffeine on sleep-wake activity in Drosophila melanogaster.

Fang Ju Lin, Michael M Pierce, Amita Sehgal, Tianyi Wu, Daniel C Skipper, Radhika Chabba

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature and science of sleep, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
15citing papers in PubMed
0.1field-weighted citation impact, top 55% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

15 citing papers in PubMed, 37 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Effects ofJournal of microbiology and biotechnology · 2025
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Fly into tranquility: GABA's role in Drosophila sleep.Current opinion in insect science · 2024
    Review
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Review
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Dietary Zinc Acts as a Sleep Modulator.International journal of molecular sciences · 2017
    Review
  13. Article
  14. Review
  15. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Fang Ju LinDepartment of Biology, Coastal Carolina University, Conway, SC, USA.
Michael M Pierce
Amita Sehgal
Tianyi Wu
Daniel C Skipper
Radhika Chabba
Conway School of Landscape Design · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Caffeine and taurine are two major neuromodulators present in large quantities in many popular energy drinks. We investigated their effects on sleep-wake control in constant darkness using the fruit fly Drosophila as a model system. It has been shown that caffeine, as the most widely used psychostimulant, can boost arousal through the dopamine pathway in the mushroom bodies of flies. Taurine is a GABA receptor agonist, which is inhibitory to neuronal firing. We show here that flies receiving a low dose of caffeine (0.01%) increase locomotor activity by 25%, and decrease total sleep by 15%. Treatment with taurine at 0.1% to 1.5% reduces locomotor activity by 28% to 86%, and shifts it from diurnal to nocturnal. At 0.75%, taurine also increases total sleep by 50%. Our results show that taurine increases sleep, while caffeine, as previously reported, attenuates sleep. Flies treated with both caffeine and taurine exhibit two differential effects which depend upon the ratio of taurine to caffeine. A high taurine:caffeine ratio promotes sleep, while a low ratio of taurine:caffeine inhibits sleep to a greater extent than the equivalent amount of caffeine alone. This intriguing enhancement of caffeine action by low doses of taurine may account for the presence of both compounds in energy-promoting drinks such as Red Bull® and Monster®.

Indexed as

caffeine (trimethylxanthine)energy drinksGABA (γ-aminobutyric acid)locomotor activitysleeptaurine (2-aminoethanesulfonic acid)

Identifiers

PMID23616711
PMCPMC3630960
OpenAlexW2092053055

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.