Modulation of Sleep Homeostasis by Corticotropin Releasing Hormone in REM Sleep-Deprived Rats

Studies have shown that sleep recovery following different protocols of forced waking varies according to the level of stress inherent to each method. Sleep deprivation activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and increased corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) impairs sleep. The purpose of...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ricardo Borges Machado, Sergio Tufik, Deborah Suchecki
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2010-01-01
Series:International Journal of Endocrinology
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2010/326151
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Studies have shown that sleep recovery following different protocols of forced waking varies according to the level of stress inherent to each method. Sleep deprivation activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and increased corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) impairs sleep. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate how manipulations of the CRH system during the sleep deprivation period interferes with subsequent sleep rebound. Throughout 96 hours of sleep deprivation, separate groups of rats were treated i.c.v. with vehicle, CRH or with alphahelical CRH9−41, a CRH receptor blocker, twice/day, at 07:00 h and 19:00 h. Both treatments impaired sleep homeostasis, especially in regards to length of rapid eye movement sleep (REM) and theta/delta ratio and induced a later decrease in NREM and REM sleep and increased waking bouts. These changes suggest that activation of the CRH system impact negatively on the homeostatic sleep response to prolonged forced waking. These results indicate that indeed, activation of the HPA axis—at least at the hypothalamic level—is capable to reduce the sleep rebound induced by sleep deprivation.
ISSN:1687-8337
1687-8345