[Pharmacological suppression of paradoxical sleep in the newborn rat (author's transl)]

In an attempt to suppress paradoxical sleep (PS) an intracerebral injection of 6 0HDA was carried out on rat faetuses at a gestational age of 16-20 days. In these animals a delay in maturation occurred compared to controls, the only modification of sleep being observed however, related to the circadian rhythmn of PS. The possible reasons for this are discussed within the framework of a concept relating paradoxical sleep to cerebral maturation.