title: Regulation of sleep after neonatal locus coeruleus lesion: functional evidence of beta-adrenergic supersensitivity.
abstract: In the present report we analyzed the long-term effect of neonatal noradrenergic denervation on the regulation of paradoxical sleep in the rat. The locus coeruleus was destroyed bilaterally at 4 days of age by direct infusion of 6-hydroxydopamine into the nuclei. After they reached adulthood, the rats received either i.p. injections of a beta-blocker, propranolol, or the same treatment combined with intraventricular infusion of a beta-agonist, isoproterenol. Several doses of each drug were tested. The effects of propranolol, alone and together with isoproterenol, on paradoxical sleep (a decrease for the former drug and a restoration for the latter combination) were significantly more pronounced in the lesioned group than in age-paired controls. These data illustrate a functional aspect of the denervation supersensitivity phenomenon in beta-receptors.
mesh_terms: D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000502:physiology*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004567:Electrodes, Implanted; D005260:Female; D007545:Isoproterenol / Q000494:pharmacology; D008125:Locus Coeruleus / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D011433:Propranolol / Q000494:pharmacology; D051381:Rats; D011941:Receptors, Adrenergic / Q000502:physiology*; D011943:Receptors, Adrenergic, beta / Q000502:physiology*; D012890:Sleep / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D012895:Sleep, REM / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000319:Adrenergic beta-Antagonists; D011941:Receptors, Adrenergic; D011943:Receptors, Adrenergic, beta; D011433:Propranolol; D007545:Isoproterenol