Marcia A. Gilliland

Increases in amino-cupric-silver staining of the supraoptic nucleus after sleep deprivation

Sleep deprived rats undergo a predictable sequence of physiological changes, including changes in skin condition, increased energy expenditure, and altered thermoregulation. Amino-cupric-silver staining was used to identify sleep deprivation related changes in the brain. A significant increase in staining was observed in the supraoptic nucleus (SON) of the hypothalamus of rats with high sleep loss (>45 h) vs. their yoked controls. Follow-up experiments showed that staining was not significantly different in rats sleep deprived for less than 45 h, suggesting that injurious sleep deprivation-related processes occur above a threshold quantity of sleep loss. These anatomical changes suggest that the effects of sleep deprivation may be related to protein metabolism in certain brain regions.

Increased Basal REM Sleep But No Difference in Dark Induction or Light Suppression of REM Sleep in Flinders Rats with Cholinergic Supersensitivity

Increased cholinergic sensitivity in the central nervous system has been postulated to account for some of the neuroendocrine abnormalities and sleep disturbances seen in human depressives. The Flinders Sensitive Line (FSL) rats, which exhibit increased sensitivity to cholinergic agents, have been shown to have REM sleep patterns similar to those seen in depressives, including shorter REM sleep latency and increased daily percentage of REM sleep.We studied the response of FSL and control rats to brief dark pulses administered during the normal light period (which are known to stimulate REM sleep in albino rats) and to brief light pulses during the normal dark period (which suppress REM sleep in albino rats) to determine whether these responses are affected by central cholinergic hypersensitivity. FSL rats showed REM sleep patterns indistinguishable from controls during light or dark pulses, which does not support the primary involvement of cholinergic systems in this mechanism of REM sleep regulation.We also examined REM and non-REM (NREM) sleep patterns in FSL rats and their controls to determine whether they show sleep continuity disturbances or decreased sleep intensity as seen in depression. In agreement with an earlier study, we found that FSL rats had more daily REM sleep and accumulated less NREM sleep between REM bouts than controls. Duration of NREM sleep bouts, total daily NREM sleep time, and EEG amplitude of NREM sleep did not differ between FSL and control rats, suggesting that the cholinergic abnormalities in FSL rats do not produce substantial NREM sleep changes.

Differences in the retinohypothalamic tract in albino Lewis versus brown Norway rat strains.

Differences in sleep-wake patterns in response to light-dark stimulation have been observed between albino Lewis and pigmented Brown Norway strains of rats, which may be associated with albinism. Since several anatomical differences have been demonstrated in the visual pathways of albino and pigmented mammals, the present study was undertaken to determine whether additional differences in visual pathways of these rat strains exist that might account for their behavioral differences. Using anterograde tracing techniques and image analysis, we have investigated the retinal projections of Lewis and Brown Norway rats. Our results demonstrate that the distribution of retinal terminals in the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus extends over a greater area in Lewis compared to Brown Norway rats. This zone of termination corresponds to a cytoarchitectonically definable ventrolateral subdivision of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), which is also greater in Lewis than in Brown Norway rats. These results may have implications for behaviors related to the SCN.

Failure to induce rapid eye movement sleep by dark pulses in pigmented inbred rat strains

Studies of albino Lewis rats, pigmented Brown Norway rats, and their F2 backcross progeny have demonstrated that the ability to trigger rapid eye movement (REM) sleep by turning off cage lights (dark pulses) is associated with albinism in these rat strains. Other studies have shown that pigmented inbred rats show REM sleep induction in the dark portion of short light:dark cycles or skin temperature changes. In the present study, these same pigmented breeds, Dark Agouti and hooded Long-Evans rats, were subjected to 5-min dark pulses and failed to show any evidence of REM sleep triggering. In fact, they showed trends towards REM sleep suppression during dark pulses. These results extend the finding that dark pulse triggering of REM sleep, readily evoked in albino rats, does not appear in pigmented rat strains.

Habitual sleep duration and the premature decline of aging-sensitive abilities in young adults

Groups of young habitual long-and short-sleeping college students were tested individually on Botwinick and Storandt’s Copying Digits Task. This was done as a test of the hypothesis that habitual sleep duration is directly related to level of performance on array of agingsensitive abilities. Congruent with this hypothesis, we found that our young long sleepers performed at their age level on this task, whereas the young short sleepers performed on this task as if they were in their mid-40s.