Abstract
Polygraphic recordings of circadian sleep-waking rhythms of rats were made before and after oral administration of methylmercury chloride (MMC). MMC-dosed rats exhibited an increase in both dark-phase slow wave sleep (SWS) and paradoxical sleep (PS) and a decrease in light-phase PS. There was no difference in the amounts of both light-phase SWS and wakefulness (W) before and after MMC administration. A phase of the circadian PS rhythm was dissociated after MMC administration, whereas the circadian SWS rhythm was still entrained synchron-ously to a light/dark cycle. The MMC-induced sleep disorder returned to the original sleep patterns by Days 35-55 after MMC administration. Possible mechan-isms underlying the sleep disorder are discussed in light of the reported cholinergic dysfunctions of the central nervous system.The appearance of sleep disorder is compared with that of neurological signs of motor incoordination and changes in brain Hg concentrations with time. The onset of neurological signs of staggering gait of MMC-dosed rats coincided with the time when brain Hg concentrations reached maximum levels.
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