Ultradian aspects of sleep in narcolepsy.
Following a baseline night recording, 9 narcoleptic subjects and 9 sex and age-matched control subjects were maintained on 16 hours of diurnal sleep deprivation. Thereafter subjects were submitted to a 32 hour bed rest protocol in a sound-light attenuated room. The EEG was recorded and processed using a Fast Fourier Transform. Narcoleptic patients did not differ from control subjects in total sleep time over the whole time-span. An ultradian tendency to sleep seems to be predominant in narcoleptic patients and evidence of a strong basic rest activity cycle is shown. The coupling between the homeostatic process of sleep regulation and an ultradian drive to sleep would explain the peculiar 4 hour distribution pattern of SWA in narcoleptic patients.
Nobili
L
L
Department of Motor Science, University of Genoa, Italy.
Ferrillo
F
F
Besset
A
A
Rosadini
G
G
Schiavi
G
G
Billiard
M
M
D000204:Activity Cycles / Q000502:physiology*; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009290:Narcolepsy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012894:Sleep Stages / Q000502:physiology*