Abstract
Caffeine is widely used to treat respiratory instabilities in premature newborns; however the use of an adenosine receptor antagonist during a sensitive period of development is always a matter of concern to clinicians. Since adenosine plays a critical role in sleep, we tested the hypothesis that neonatal caffeine changes sleep architecture of adult rats. Newborns received each day from postnatal day 3–12 a dose of caffeine (15 mg/mL) or water (control). At adulthood, sleep-wake states were evaluated at rest and during hypercapnia (5% of CO2) using an EEG/EMG telemetry system in 15 non-anesthetised adult male rats. Rats treated with neonatal caffeine presented a higher percentage of wakefulness (by 132%, P<0.001) and a lower percentage of non-REM sleep (by 37%, P<0.001) than controls, whereas REM sleep did not change. Number of bouts of wakefulness increased by 38% in caffeine-treated rats compared to controls (P=0.042). Finally, hypercapnia increased wakefulness and decreased non-REM and REM sleep in each group. During hypercapnia, neonatal caffeine did not change wakefulness or non-REM sleep, whereas it reduced REM sleep by 76% (P=0.020). These results suggest that neonatal caffeine persistently reduces and fractionates sleep in adult rats. This work was funded by CIHR and G.M. was awarded by the Foundation for the Research into Children’ disease.
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