Detection of seven sleep-waking stages in the rat

Seven meaningful sleep-waking stages can be dissociated in the rat. 1) Waking with theta activity in the dorsal hippocampus which corresponds to attentive and/or psychomotor active behavior. 2) Waking without theta activity during which the animal is mainly quiet. 3) The first sleep stage is characterized by cortical slow waves of progressive increasing amplitude. 4) As synchronized sleep deepens, anterior cortex spindles of progressively increasing number, amplitude and duration appear. 5) Just prior to paradoxical sleep occurs an intermediate stage characterized by cortical high amplitude spindles and low frequency theta rhythm. It corresponds to a functional cerveau isolé-like preparation since it is related to a massive decrease of thalamic sensory transmission processes, and acute intercollicular transections induce for hours the same unusual association of EEG patterns. This stage is massively extended at the expense of paradoxical sleep by several psychotropic drugs. 6) Paradoxical sleep without eye movements. 7) Eye movement periods of paradoxical sleep. The central responsiveness and neurophysiological correlations of these stages are discussed.