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Updated: Aug 8, 2026
Chronic Sleep Deprivation in Mouse Pups by Means of Gentle Handling
Published on: October 11, 2018
Degenerative changes induced by paradoxical sleep deprivation in rat sublingual glands
Gabriel Carvalhal de Aguiar1, Ana Carolina Flygare Souza1, Daniel Vitor de Souza1
1Department of Biosciences, Institute of Health and Society, Federal University of São Paulo, UNIFESP, Rua Silva Jardim, 136, Room 332, Vila Mathias, Santos, SP, 11050-020, Brazil.
Purpose:
The aim of this study was to evaluate whether sleep deprivation can induce degenerative changes in rat sublingual glands.
Methods:
For this purpose, a total of 24 males were distributed into three groups: control (n = 8), in which the animals were not subjected to any procedure; sleep deprivation (n = 8) in which the animals were submitted to sleep deprivation for 96 h; recovery (n = 8), in which the animals were subjected to paradoxical sleep deprivation for 96 consecutive hours followed by 96 h without intervention. Morphological changes in sublingual glands as well as the immunoexpressions of some proteins, such as Ki-67, p16, cleaved caspase-3 and BCL-2 were investigated in this setting.
Results:
The results showed that paradoxical sleep deprivation induced tissue degeneration as a result of the presence of pyknosis, vacuoles and areas of salivary retention, in the experimental groups. Expression of cleaved caspase 3 and BCL-2 were increased in both sleep deprivation and recovery groups. The analysis of Ki-67 showed an increase in expression only in the recovery group, associated with a decrease in p16 levels.
Conclusion:
Sleep deprivation can induce a degenerative process in the parenchyma of sublingual gland by means of dysregulation of apoptosis associated with proliferative activity.
