Voluntary Sleep Loss in Rats

Animal sleep deprivation (SDEP), in contrast to human SDEP, is involuntary and involves repeated exposure to aversive stimuli including the inability of the animal to control the waking stimulus. Therefore, we explored intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS), an operant behavior, as a method for voluntary SDEP in rodents.

Male Sprague-Dawley rats were implanted with electroencephalography/electromyography (EEG/EMG) recording electrodes and a unilateral bipolar electrode into the lateral hypothalamus. Rats were allowed to self-stimulate, or underwent gentle handling-induced SDEP (GH-SDEP), during the first 6 h of the light phase, after which they were allowed to sleep. Other rats performed the 6 h ICSS and 1 w later were subjected to 6 h of noncontingent stimulation (NCS). During NCS the individual stimulation patterns recorded during ICSS were replayed.

After GH-SDEP, ICSS, or NCS, time in nonrapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep increased. Further, in the 24 h after SDEP, rats recovered all of the REM sleep lost during SDEP, but only 75% to 80% of the NREM sleep lost, regardless of the SDEP method. The magnitude of EEG slow wave responses occurring during NREM sleep also increased after SDEP treatments. However, NREM sleep EEG slow wave activity (SWA) responses were attenuated following ICSS, compared to GH-SDEP and NCS.

We conclude that ICSS and NCS can be used to sleep deprive rats. Changes in rebound NREM sleep EEG SWA occurring after ICSS, NCS, and GH-SDEP suggest that nonspecific effects of the SDEP procedure differentially affect recovery sleep phenotypes.