C. Dugovic et Fw. Turek, Similar genetic mechanisms may underlie sleep-wake states in neonatal and adult rats, NEUROREPORT, 12(14), 2001, pp. 3085-3089
Genetic differences in the characteristics of sleep-wake states in adult an
imals offer a potential window for examining how the neonatal and adult beh
avioural states are related to one another. Our recent finding that adult W
istar-Kyoto (WKY) rats show pronounced genetic differences in sleep-wake pa
tterns relative to the Wistar (WIS) control strain led us to investigate th
e relationship between these behavioural states in neonates and adults in a
longitudinal study in these two strains of rats. Similar pronounced differ
ences in the sleep-wake states were observed between WKY and WIS rats in ne
onatal and in adult animals. At both ages, WKY rats spent more time in acti
vesleep (AS) and rapid eye movement sleep (REMS) and less time in quiet sle
ep (QS) and non-REM sleep (NREMS) than WIS rats, and the sleep-wake states
were more fragmented in neonatal and adult WKY rats. While it is not known
how neonatal AS and QS are physiologically related to adult REMS and NREMS,
respectively, the finding of similar differences in the amounts of sleep-w
ake states in neonatal and adult WKY and WIS rats argues strongly that at s
ome level they are controlled by similar genetic as well as cellular/physio
logical mechanisms. NeuroReport 12:3085-3089 (C) 2001 Lippincott Williams &
Wilkins.