Promotion of sleep by prostaglandin D2 in rats made insomniac by pretreatment with para-chlorophenylalanine.
The correlation between the somnogenic effect of prostaglandin (PG) D2 and the serotoninergic system was examined in freely-moving rats (n = 64) by use of a continuous infusion method. Rats pretreated with para-chlorophenylalanine (PCPA: 450 mg/kg body weight, i.p.) or non-PCPA-pretreated rats received infusion of PGD2, serotonin, or its direct precursor, 5-hydroxytryptophan (5HTP), into their third cerebral ventricle at a rate of 100 pmol/0.2 microliter/min between 11:00 and 17:00 h. In the PCPA-pretreated insomniac rats, PGD2 infusion resulted in an immediate increase in slow-wave sleep (SWS) and an increase with a 2-h latency in paradoxical sleep (PS). The total amounts of SWS and PS during the PGD2-infusion period were 151% and 154% of the respective control values. These results indicate that inhibition of the biosynthesis of serotonin and 5HTP by PCPA marginally affects the sleep-promoting effect of PGD2. The transient sleep restoration produced by 5HTP infusion into PCPA-pretreated rats was hardly affected by the simultaneous infusion (200 pmol/0.2 microliter/min; 07:00-17:00 h) of diclofenac sodium, an inhibitor of cyclo-oxygenase, suggesting that PGD2 production is not critically involved in the sleep restoration by 5HTP. The sleep-promoting property of PGD2 is thus probably independent of the serotoninergic modulation of sleep-wake activity.
Satoh
S
S
Osaka Bioscience Institute, Japan.
Matsumura
H
H
Nakajima
T
T
Onoe
H
H
Sakai
K
K
Nakajima
T
T
Jouvet
M
M
Hayaishi
O
O
D006916:5-Hydroxytryptophan / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D002552:Cerebral Ventricles; D004008:Diclofenac / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology; D010134:Fenclonine / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D015230:Prostaglandin D2 / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012701:Serotonin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000494:pharmacology; D012890:Sleep / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced*; D013696:Temperature
D004008:Diclofenac; D012701:Serotonin; D006916:5-Hydroxytryptophan; D010134:Fenclonine; D015230:Prostaglandin D2