Dissertation
The effects of alcohol on sleep in rats
Washington State University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
12/2008
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000005813
Abstract
Sleep pathology is a frequent complication in human alcoholics and is associated with relapse drinking. Progress in understanding this pathology requires an animal model but an optimal alcohol treatment paradigm that produces robust sleep pathologies in the rat has not been defined. Alcohol was delivered either in water (6% and 12%) or in liquid diet (3% and 6%). Result shows that 6% alcohol in liquid diet for 6 weeks produces the greatest alteration of sleep. This includes flattening of the distribution of wake, slow-wave sleep (SWS) and rapid-eye movement sleep (REMS) across dark and light period, without any alteration of daily time spent in each vigilance state. In addition slow wave amplitude across dark and light period is also flattened. In order to describe better the effects of alcohol on sleep in rats a more precise description of sleep in rats is required. Rats sleep in episodic manner, however a formal definition of sleep unit is lacking. Analysis of wake periods in rat suggested that rats have at least two modes of wake, the long duration wake (LDW) and the brief wake (BW). When rats are not in LDW, they cycle relatively rapidly through SWS, REMS and BW, a period we call vigilance cycling (VC). In the light period VC episodes are extended, more intense, but less in number. In contrast, the number of VC is greater in the dark period but they are less intense. We propose that VC represents a sleep unit in rats. The usefulness of VC and LDW becomes apparent when we analyze the effects of chronic alcohol treatment on sleep. The extended VC episodes in the light period were fragmented after chronic alcohol treatment in addition to a suppression of REMS. The effect of chronic alcohol treatment on sleep is found to be different from the effect of acute alcohol treatment on sleep. These results demonstrate that the effects of chronic alcohol in humans (REMS suppression and inability to remain asleep at night) are also produced in the rat. Additionally, it also demonstrates the usefulness of the analysis of rat's vigilance states into LDW and VC.
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Details
- Title
- The effects of alcohol on sleep in rats
- Creators
- Sanjib Mukherjee
- Contributors
- Steve M. Simasko (Chair)Barbara Sorg Ingermann (Committee Member) - Washington State University, Department of Integrative Physiology and NeuroscienceHeiko Jansen (Committee Member) - Washington State University, Department of Integrative Physiology and NeuroscienceLevente S Kapas (Committee Member) - Washington State University, Department of Biomedical Sciences
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Program in Neuroscience
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 195
- Identifiers
- 99901055039401842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation