title: Ultradian aspects of sleep in narcolepsy.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Motor Science, University of Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nobili
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ferrillo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Besset
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rosadini
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schiavi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Billiard
mesh_terms: 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*