[Neonatal administration of 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine induces in the adult rat a decrease in paradoxical sleep restored...

By a method of automatic on-line scoring of sleep-waking stages in the rat, a significant decrease of the mean circadian level of paradoxical sleep and a significant increase of light slow sleep were shown in adult animals after neonatal disruption of serotoninergic system by intracisternal injection of 100 micrograms of 5.7-dihydroxytryptamine, when compared to an aged matched sham group. The level of paradoxical sleep was restored in the neurotoxin-treated rats by an intracisternal injection of a suspension of foetal raphe neurons.