Effect of ambient temperature on brain temperature and sleep-wakefulness in medial preoptic area lesioned rats

The changes in brain temperature and sleep-wakefulness were studied in rats during their exposure to different ambient temperatures of 18 degrees C, 24 degrees C and 30 degrees C, before and after N-methyl D-aspartic acid lesion of the medial preoptic area. The medial preoptic area lesion produced a decrease in sleep, and increase in brain temperature except at 30 degrees C. Increase and decrease in brain temperature with slow wave sleep and paradoxical sleep respectively, were observed both in normal and lesioned rats. Sleep-wakefulness and brain temperature cycle durations were increased and their frequencies decreased at higher ambient temperature in normal rats. After the medial preoptic area lesion, sleep-wakefulness cycle duration was decreased and frequency increased at 30 degrees C. There was no significant change in brain temperature cycles at higher ambient temperature in lesioned rats. The medial preoptic area, in normal rats, possibly interlinks the neuronal circuits involved in regulating brain temperature and sleep-wakefulness cycles. The medial preoptic area is essential for increasing the sleep-wakefulness cycle duration with higher ambient temperature. The possible contribution of the increased brain temperature variation in producing sleep-wakefulness changes cannot be ruled out. The results of the study show that this area may serve as a fine tuning mechanism which helps to interlink the sleep-wakefulness with the thermoregulation.