Effect of psychotropic drugs on sleep disturbances during alcohol withdrawal in rats

Abstract

Experiments were carried out on 40 noninbred male rats, kept individually but with free access to 15% ethanol solution and to water for 13 months, and consuming alcohol in a mean daily dose of 6.75 g/kg body weight (calculated as pure ethanol). Electrodes were implanted into the hippocampus (coordinates P 4.9, L 3.5, H 3.0) [5] and into the dorsal group of neck muscles of the animals, and I week after the operation a continuous electrophysiological recording was made of the animals' sleep from noon to 4 p.m. on 3 successive days, including the total duration of sleep (TDS), the duration and percentage of the slow (SPS) and fast (FPS) phases of sleep, the mean duration and number of episodes of FPS, its latent period, the time of onset of the first complete SPS-FPS cycle, and the mean duration of sleep without awakening during the latent period of FPS and during the whole of sleep (in minutes). The animals were then divided into five groups, access to alcohol was prohibited, and for 7 days sleep was recorded against the background of daily intraperitoneal injections of physiological saline (group i), sodium hydroxybutyrate (group 2), phenazepam (group 3), apomorphine (group 4), a~d haloperidol (group 5), during the 30 rain belore recording began. The results were subjected to statistical analysis [9].