ISSN:
1471-4159
Source:
Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
Topics:
Medicine
Notes:
Recent studies have pointed out biochemical and pharmacological phenomena associated with the mechanism or mechanisms of sleep, especially in its paradoxical phase (Jouvet, 1964; Mandel, 1964). Our previous experiments have shown that paradoxical sleep (PS) deprivation leads to the fall of total glycogen content in certain regions of the brains of cats (Mršulja, Rakić and Radulovački, 1967; Mršulja and Rakić, 1968) and rats (Karadžič and Mršulja, 1969). It was shown that changes of glycogen content correspond to PS deprivation and that PS deprivation is a specific stress to which the CNS responds selectively. Alterations in the glycogen concentration in a number of different brain structures lead us to conclude that neural areas affected by PS deprivation are widely distributed.Jouvet (1962) was one of the first to suggest that a neurohumoral mechanism may be concerned in the control of and characteristics of sleep. Experiments have shown that both cholinergic and adrenergic mechanisms may be involved in the initiation, maintenance and control of sleep. It has also been pointed out that paradoxical sleep can be started and maintained by cholinergic drugs (Matsuzaki, Okada and Shuto, 1967, 1968), blocked or reduced by anticholinergic compounds (Matsuzaki et al., 1968), and stimulated by noradrenaline or by its precursor, DOPA (Matsumoto and Jouvet, 1964).Bowers, Hartmann and Freedman (1966) showed that the ACh level of the rat telencephalon decreases with PS deprivation while the levels of norpinephrine and serotonin remain the same (Barchas and Freedman, 1963). More recently, Pujol, Mouret, Jouvet and Glowinski (1968) found the increased turnover of cerebral norepinephrine during rebound of PS in the rat.It is also of interest to point out that probably both adrenergic and cholinergic processes participate in the glycogenolytic effect of physostigmine (Mršulja, Terzić and Varagić, 1968). It was suggested that physostigmine initiates the cholinergic processes which then trigger off adrenergic processes.The aim in the present work was to determine the glycogen content in certain brain regions of rats which were subjected to PS deprivation lasting 72 hr and treated with some cholinergic or beta-adrenergic blocking agents, as well as with a catecholamine depleting drug.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-4159.1970.tb02235.x
Permalink
