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Light Deprivation Hinders Ability to Regulate Sleep-Wake Cycle The study, conducted by Mónica M.C. González, PhD, and Gary Aston-Jones, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, focused on rats that were maintained on a light-dark (LD) schedule or in constant darkness (DD) for 3 to 4 weeks, and treated with DSP-4, a neurotoxic agent specific for noradrenergic-LC projections. Vigilance states were analyzed before and 3 weeks after LC lesion. The DSP-4 lesion was verified by the immunohistochemistry of noradrenergic fibers in the frontal cortex. “DSP-4 decreased the amplitude of the sleep-wake rhythm in LD animals by significantly decreasing wakefulness and increasing sleep during the active period,” the authors wrote. “However, DSP-4 had no effect on the sleep-wake cycle of DD animals. Moreover, DD itself decreased the amplitude of the sleep-wake cycle similar to that of the neurotoxic lesion of the noradrenergic system in LD animals.” |
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