Storch Corinna, Höhne Arnold, Holsboer Florian, Ohl Frauke
Section of Behavioural Phenotyping, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Kraepelinstr. 2, 80804 Munich, Germany.
J Neurosci Methods. 2004 Feb 15;133(1-2):173-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2003.10.008.
Sleep-wake behaviour in mice is known to interact with various behavioural dimensions. Therefore, it is necessary to control for such dimensions when evaluating sleep in mice. The characterisation of sleep in rodents usually is based on EEG signals. Since this method demands the invasive implantation of electrodes, it cannot be integrated into general behavioural phenotyping procedures. Thus, non- or minimum-invasive methods are needed for the analysis of sleep-wake behaviour. Although physiological parameters, like for instance general locomotor activity, allow for the assessment of sleep-wake behaviour in mice, existing methods lack reliability especially in measuring stationary and three-dimensional activities. In this study, a small magnet was implanted subcutaneously near the neck muscles of mice and each movement of the magnet was registered via a sensor plate. For validation of the described method, the effects of sleep deprivation were evaluated by both the magnet and the EEG in parallel. Our results show that the data obtained via the subcutaneously implanted magnet represent a reliable and sensitive measurement of quantitative aspects of sleep-wake behaviour: spatial variation as well as stationary activities could be dissociated from sleep. Qualitative sleep characteristics were not detected. In summary, this minimum invasive method allows for the detection of quantitative alterations in sleep-wake behaviour in mice, thus, offering a useful, rapid pre-screen in animal sleep research.
已知小鼠的睡眠-觉醒行为与各种行为维度相互作用。因此，在评估小鼠睡眠时，有必要对这些维度进行控制。啮齿动物睡眠的特征通常基于脑电图（EEG）信号。由于这种方法需要侵入性地植入电极，所以它不能整合到一般的行为表型分析程序中。因此，需要非侵入性或微创方法来分析睡眠-觉醒行为。虽然生理参数，例如一般的运动活动，可以用于评估小鼠的睡眠-觉醒行为，但现有方法缺乏可靠性，尤其是在测量静止和三维活动方面。在本研究中，将一个小磁铁皮下植入小鼠颈部肌肉附近，并通过传感器板记录磁铁的每次移动。为了验证所描述的方法，同时通过磁铁和脑电图评估睡眠剥夺的影响。我们的结果表明，通过皮下植入磁铁获得的数据代表了对睡眠-觉醒行为定量方面的可靠且灵敏的测量：空间变化以及静止活动可以与睡眠区分开来。未检测到定性的睡眠特征。总之，这种微创方法能够检测小鼠睡眠-觉醒行为的定量变化，从而在动物睡眠研究中提供一种有用的快速预筛选方法。
