Mass Spectrometry Imaging Shows Modafinil, A Student Study Drug, Changes the Lipid Composition of the Fly Brain

Modafinil, a widely used psychoactive drug, has been shown to exert a positive impact on cognition and is used to treat sleep disorders and hyperactivity. Using time‐of‐flight secondary ion mass spectrometric imaging, we studied the changes of brain lipids of Drosophila melanogaster induced by modafinil to gain insight into the functional mechanism of modafinil in the brain. We found that upon modafinil treatment, the abundance of phosphatidylcholine and sphingomyelin species in the central brain of Drosophila is significantly decreased, whereas the levels of phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylinositol in the brains show significant enhancement compared to the control flies. The alteration of brain lipids caused by modafinil is consistent with previous studies about cognition‐related drugs and offers a plausible mechanism regarding the action of modafinil in the brain as well as a potential target for the treatment of certain disorders. Modafinil, used for sleep disorder treatment, appears to enhance attention as well as improve learning and memory. Imaging mass spectrometry is used to investigate the effects of modafinil on the alteration of lipid composition on fly brain. Modafinil induces a decrease in PC and SM contents and increases the levels of PEs and PIs. The lipid changes caused by modafinil are similar to the effects of methylphenidate, which also improves cognition.