Sleep-wake disturbances in an animal model of chronic cholinergic insufficiency.
Rats reared on a diet in which choline is replaced with N-aminodeanol (NADE), undergo > 50% replacement of brain acetylcholine with acetylated NADE, a false cholinergic transmitter. We examined amounts of sleep and wakefulness in 7 littermate pairs of rats fed either NADE-substituted, or a choline control diet for > 100 days after weaning. During the lights-on portion of the 12/12 h light/dark cycle, NADE rats spent more time awake, and less time in both non-REM and REM sleep compared to littermate controls. Average durations of waking episodes were significantly increased in NADE rats. During the 12 h dark period, there were no between-group differences in sleep-waking amounts. Behavioral hyper-responsiveness which interferes with sleep onset, combined with reduced activity in brainstem cholinergic mechanisms involved in REM sleep generation may underlie daytime sleep-waking disturbances in NADE rats.
Szymusiak
R
R
Sleep Physiology Laboratory (151A3), Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Sepulveda, CA 91343.
McGinty
D
D
Fairchild
M D
MD
Jenden
D J
DJ
D000107:Acetylation; D000109:Acetylcholine / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D002794:Choline / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D002796:Choline Deficiency / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D003624:Darkness; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D008027:Light; D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012890:Sleep / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D012895:Sleep, REM / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents; C038146:N-amino-N,N-dimethylaminoethanol; D002794:Choline; D000109:Acetylcholine