Mukherjee Sanjib, Simasko Steven M
Program in Neuroscience, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-6520, USA.
Behav Brain Res. 2009 Mar 2;198(1):113-24. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2008.10.026. Epub 2008 Oct 30.
Studies have shown that disturbed sleep produced by chronic alcohol abuse in humans can predict relapse drinking after periods of abstinence. How alcohol produces disturbed sleep remains unknown. In this study we used a novel analysis of sleep to examine the effects of alcohol on sleep patterns in rats. This analysis separates waking into multiple components and defines a period labeled vigilance cycling (VC) in which the rat rapidly cycles through various vigilance states. These VC episodes are separated by long duration wake (LDW) periods. We find that 6 weeks of alcohol (6% in a liquid diet) caused fragmentation of extended VC episodes that normally occur in the light period. However, total daily amounts of slow-wave sleep (SWS) and rapid-eye movement sleep (REMS) remained constant. The daily amount of wake, SWS, and REMS remained constant because the alcohol treated rats increased the amount of VC in the dark period, and the sleep nature of VC in the dark period became more intense. In addition, we observed more wake and less REMS early in the light period in alcohol treated rats. All effects completely reversed by day 16 of alcohol withdrawal. Comparison of the effects of chronic alcohol to acute alcohol exposure demonstrated the effects of chronic alcohol are due to adaptation and not the acute presence of alcohol. The effects of chronic alcohol treatment in rats mimic the effects reported in humans (REMS suppression, difficulty falling asleep, and difficulty remaining asleep).
研究表明，人类长期酗酒导致的睡眠紊乱能够预测戒酒一段时间后的复饮情况。酒精如何导致睡眠紊乱尚不清楚。在本研究中，我们采用了一种新颖的睡眠分析方法来检测酒精对大鼠睡眠模式的影响。这种分析方法将清醒状态分为多个成分，并定义了一个名为警觉性循环（VC）的时期，在此期间大鼠会迅速在各种警觉状态之间循环。这些VC发作被长时间清醒（LDW）期隔开。我们发现，6周的酒精摄入（液体饮食中含6%酒精）导致通常在光照期出现的延长VC发作碎片化。然而，每日慢波睡眠（SWS）和快速眼动睡眠（REMS）的总量保持不变。每日清醒、SWS和REMS的量保持不变是因为经酒精处理的大鼠在黑暗期增加了VC的量，且黑暗期VC的睡眠性质变得更强。此外，我们观察到经酒精处理的大鼠在光照期早期清醒时间更多，REMS更少。在戒酒第16天时，所有影响完全逆转。慢性酒精与急性酒精暴露影响的比较表明，慢性酒精的影响是由于适应性变化而非酒精的急性存在。大鼠慢性酒精处理的影响与人类报告的影响相似（REMS抑制、入睡困难和难以保持睡眠）。
