Acute effects of ozone on EEG activity, sleep-wakefulness and heart rate in rats.

Effects of exposure to O3 on EEG activity, sleep-wakefulness and heart rate were examined using conscious rats which had been chronically implanted with electrodes for EEG, EMG and ECG recordings. Exposure to 0.5 ppm O3 for 6 hrs and 1.0 ppm O3 for 3 hrs suppressed amounts of wakefulness (W) and paradoxical sleep (PS) at the expense of an increase in slow-wave sleep (SWS), and lowered the amplitude of fast EEG waves and heart rate (HR). The lowered EEG amplitude and the suppressed PS recovered more rapidly during the post-exposure period than did the lowered HR. The ip administration of atropine sulfate blocked the suppressed W, the increased SWS and the lowered HR, while the lowered EEG amplitude and the suppressed PS were not blocked. These observations suggest that the O3-induced bradycardia results from enhanced activity of cardiac parasympathetic nerves and that the O3-induced changes in W and SWS result secondarily from some circulatory factor including the bradycardia.