Genetically epileptic rats show a pronounced intermediate stage of sleep.
Rats of the genetically epileptic WAG/Rij strain show a more long-lasting intermediate stage of sleep compared to rats of the Wistar strain. Therefore the WAG/Rij strain provides a privileged model for studying this stage of sleep. On the other hand, the percentage of paradoxical sleep in WAG/Rij rats is lower than in Wistar rats, for the reason that the intermediate stage in WAG/Rij rats is less frequently followed by paradoxical sleep and more frequently by slow wave sleep and especially by arousals. It is speculated that the epileptic rats encounter a greater difficulty in entering into paradoxical sleep.
Gandolfo
G
G
Laboratoire de Psychophysiologie, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Nice, France.
Romettino
S
S
Gottesmann
C
C
Van Luijtelaar
G
G
Coenen
A
A
D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012894:Sleep Stages / Q000502:physiology*