Automated Swiping Mechanism Entirely Eradicates Paradoxical Sleep During Acute Sleep Deprivation in Rats

Snezana Milosavljevic, Matthew Efird, Mike Gore, Dr. Ana Pocivavsek

Sleep is a complex physiological process, critical for learning and memory consolidation, divided into two main stages: rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. Insufficient amount of sleep is frequently reported in patients with psychiatric illness, such as schizophrenia, who also exhibit impairments in learning and memory. Pertinent rodent models for loss of sleep may help develop treatments to alleviate symptoms of sleep disturbances in various psychiatric disorders. We have manufactured an automated swiping mechanism within a rodent housing chamber to induce sleep deprivation in rats. Electroencephalography (EEG) coupled with electromyography (EMG) is commonly used physiological method for evaluating the vigilance states: REM or paradoxical sleep, NREM or slow wave sleep, and wakefulness. Adult Wistar rats were implanted with telemetry transmitters for acquisition of EEG and EMG recordings. Acute sleep deprivation was performed for 6 hours from Zeitgeber time (ZT) ZT0 to ZT6 in our novel sleep deprivation chamber. For each vigilance state, we analyzed: total duration, number of bouts, and average bout duration. Our data (N = 4 males) reveal 100% eradication of paradoxical sleep and 90% elimination of slow wave sleep, as evidenced by the absence of REM bouts, reduction in NREM duration and NREM average bout duration, and increased wake parameters. Taken together, automated swiping mechanism is an effective method of sleep deprivation comparable to gentle handling by an experimenter, previously verified in our laboratory (Baratta et al., Sci Rep. 2018).