[Effects of chronic partial sleep deprivation on growth and learning/memory in young rats].
OBJECTIVE
The effects of sleep deprivation on the immature brain remain unknown. Based on a computer controlled chronic sleep deprivation animal model, the effects of chronic partial sleep deprivation on growth, learning and memory in young rats were explored.


METHODS
Twelve weaned male Spraque-Dawley rats (3-week-old) were randomly divided into sleep deprivation, test control and blank control groups. Sleep deprivation was performed using computer-controlled "disc-over-water" technique at 8-11 am daily, for 14 days. The temperature and weights were measured every 7 days. Morris water maze was used to test spatial learning and memory abilities before and 7 and 14 days after sleep deprivation. After 14 days of sleep deprivation, the rats were sacrificed for weighting their major organs.


RESULTS
After 14 days of sleep deprivation, the rats' temperature increased significantly. During the sleep deprivation, the rate of weight gain in the sleep deprivation group was much slower than that in the test control and blank control groups. The thymus of the rats subjected to sleep deprivation was much lighter than that of the blank control group. After 7 days of sleep deprivation, the rats showed slower acquisition of reference memory, but were capable of successfully performing the task by repeated exposure to the test. Such impairment of reference memory was not seen 14 days after sleep deprivation.


CONCLUSIONS
Chronic sleep deprivation can affect growth of immature rats, as well as their abilities to acquire spatial reference memory.
Jiang
Fan
F
Department of Child Health Care, Shanghai Children's Medical Center, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200127, China.
Shen
Xiao-Ming
XM
Li
Sheng-Hui
SH
Cui
Mao-Long
ML
Zhang
Yin
Y
Wang
Cheng
C
Yu
Xiao-Gang
XG
Yan
Chong-Huai
CH
D000818:Animals; D001831:Body Temperature; D001835:Body Weight; D006128:Growth; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D009929:Organ Size; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012892:Sleep Deprivation / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*