title: The effect of raphe lesion on sleep in the rat.
abstract: The midbrain raphe nuclei (nucleus raphe dorsalis and nucleus raphe medialis) were destroyed by electrocoaggulation in rats. On the first few days following the lesion, a marked hyperactivity was observed in lesioned animals as well as in shame-operated controls. Between the 5th and 36th days after the lesion, sleep patterns did not differ either qualitatively or quantitatively from the shame-operated and intact controls. The forebrain 5-HT level was reduced to 33.85%. It is concluded, that in rats restoration of the sleep system after the destruction of midbrain raphe nuclei is extremely rapid and effective. 5-HT seems to play an important role in this restored sleep system even though the forebrain 5-HT content was still markedly reduced.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000502:physiology*; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D008297:Male; D008636:Mesencephalon / Q000502:physiology; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D011903:Raphe Nuclei / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D012701:Serotonin / Q000378:metabolism; D012894:Sleep Stages / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D012701:Serotonin