Daily pattern of EEG activity in rats with lateral hypothalamic lesions

The experiment was aimed to further elucidate the phenomenon of sleep suppression observed earlier after electrolytic lesions of the lateral hypothalamus (LH). In male Wister rats the amounts of waking (W), slow wave sleep (SWS) and paradoxical sleep (PS) were counted in 1 h samples of EEG taken from the light and dark parts of the circadian cycle, as well as in the whole 12 h diurnal records before lesioning and after electrolytic or sham lesions of LH. Significant increase of W with a simultaneous reduction of SWS and PS was found in 1h and 12h diurnal records; no effect of the lesion on nocturnal EEG was observed. The results suggest that lesion-induced sleep suppression concerns the light part of the day when rats are naturally less active, and that 1h samples of diurnal EEG may be sufficient to diagnose LH insomnia. No correlation was found between the magnitude of waking-sleep disturbances and the intensity of ingestive impairments (aphagia, adipsia, body weight loss) evoked by LH lesions which suggests that LH insomnia may be a result of disruption of a mechanism directly involved in the regulation of waking-sleep cycle rather than a secondary effect of other lesion-induced impairments.