EEG power densities (0.5-20 Hz) in different sleep-wake stages in rats

Frontofrontal and frontoparietal EEG power densities (0.5-20 Hz) in waking, light and deep slow-wave sleep, transition-type sleep, and rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep were investigated for 8 h during the light period in 16 male Wistar rats. The data indicate that as delta activity (0.5-4.5 Hz) increased from light to deep slow-wave sleep, the number of epochs per scoring epoch with high sigma activity (11-16 Hz) as well as power densities in the rest of the spectrum (5-20 Hz) including sigma frequencies also increased. This is in parallel with other rat studies but contrasts findings in humans, where EEG sigma activity is reported to decrease as sleep deepens. During the 8-h recording period, delta activity decreased whereas sigma activity increased.