A preliminary study of sleep ontogenesis in the ferret ( Mustela putorius furo)

Allison Thurber; Sushil K Jha; Tammi Coleman; Marcos G Frank

doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2007.12.019

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A preliminary study of sleep ontogenesis in the ferret ( Mustela putorius furo)

Journal article

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A preliminary study of sleep ontogenesis in the ferret ( Mustela putorius furo)

Allison Thurber, Sushil K Jha, Tammi Coleman and Marcos G Frank

Behavioural brain research, Vol.189(1), pp.41-51

2008

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2007.12.019

Handle:

https://hdl.handle.net/2376/106062

PMCID: PMC2527623

PMID: 18243360

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Abstract

Ontogenesis

Placental mammal

Rapid-eye-movement

We investigated sleep ontogenesis in the ferret—a placental mammal that is highly altricial compared to other mammalian species. Because altriciality is linked with elevated rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep amounts during infancy, it was expected that ferret kits would display very high levels of this state. Longitudinal polysomnographic measurements were made from 8 ferret kits from approximately eye-opening (postnatal day [P]30)–P50 using an experimental routine that minimized the effects of maternal separation. These data were compared to values from 8 adult ferrets (>3 months of age) and 6 neonatal cats (mean age: P31.7). We find that the polygraphic features of REM and non-REM (NREM) sleep are present by at least P30. Over the next 2 weeks, REM sleep amounts slightly declined while wakefulness and NREM sleep amounts increased. However, a comparison to published values from developing cats and rats showed that the ferret did not exhibit a disproportionate amount of REM sleep at similar postnatal ages or relative to a common developmental milestone (eye-opening).

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Title: A preliminary study of sleep ontogenesis in the ferret ( Mustela putorius furo)
Creators: Allison Thurber - Department of Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
Sushil K Jha - School of Life Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
Tammi Coleman - Department of Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
Marcos G Frank - Department of Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
Publication Details: Behavioural brain research, Vol.189(1), pp.41-51
Academic Unit: Biomedical Sciences, Department of
Publisher: Elsevier B.V
Identifiers: 99900547028301842
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article