Jones Marissa R, Brandner Adam J, Vendruscolo Leandro F, Vendruscolo Janaina C M, Koob George F, Schmeichel Brooke E
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, United States.
Neurobiology of Addiction Section, Integrative Neuroscience Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Intramural Research Program, Baltimore, MD, United States.
Front Neurosci. 2022 Jun 10;16:838486. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2022.838486. eCollection 2022.
The prevalence of sleep disruptions is higher among people with alcohol use disorder (AUD), particularly during alcohol withdrawal, compared to non-AUD individuals. Although women generally have a higher risk of developing sleep disorders, few studies have investigated sex differences in sleep disruptions following chronic alcohol exposure. The present study examined sleep macroarchitecture (time spent asleep or awake and sleep onset latency) and microarchitecture (bout rate and duration and sleep spindle characterization) prior to alcohol vapor exposure (baseline), during acute withdrawal, and through protracted abstinence in female and male rats. Females and males showed reduced time in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep during acute withdrawal, which returned to baseline levels during protracted abstinence. REM sleep onset latency was decreased during protracted abstinence in females only. Furthermore, there was a sex difference observed in overall REM sleep bout rate. Although there were no changes in non-REM sleep time, or to non-REM sleep bout rate or duration, there was an increase in non-REM sleep intra-spindle frequency during acute withdrawal in both females and males. Finally, there was increased wakefulness time and bout duration during acute withdrawal in both females and males. The results demonstrate both macroarchitectural and microarchitectural changes in sleep following chronic alcohol exposure, particularly during acute withdrawal, suggesting the need for therapeutic interventions for sleep disturbances during withdrawal in individuals with AUD. Furthermore, sex differences were observed in REM sleep, highlighting the importance of including both sexes in future alcohol-related sleep studies.
与无酒精使用障碍（AUD）的个体相比，酒精使用障碍患者的睡眠中断患病率更高，尤其是在酒精戒断期间。尽管女性通常患睡眠障碍的风险更高，但很少有研究调查长期酒精暴露后睡眠中断的性别差异。本研究在雌性和雄性大鼠酒精蒸汽暴露前（基线）、急性戒断期间以及长期戒酒期间，检查了睡眠宏观结构（睡眠时间或清醒时间以及睡眠起始潜伏期）和微观结构（发作频率和持续时间以及睡眠纺锤波特征）。雌性和雄性在急性戒断期间快速眼动（REM）睡眠的时间减少，在长期戒酒期间恢复到基线水平。仅在雌性长期戒酒期间，REM睡眠起始潜伏期缩短。此外，在总体REM睡眠发作频率上观察到性别差异。尽管非REM睡眠时间、非REM睡眠发作频率或持续时间没有变化，但雌性和雄性在急性戒断期间非REM睡眠纺锤波内频率均增加。最后，雌性和雄性在急性戒断期间清醒时间和发作持续时间均增加。结果表明，长期酒精暴露后睡眠在宏观结构和微观结构上均发生变化，尤其是在急性戒断期间，这表明需要对AUD个体戒断期间的睡眠障碍进行治疗干预。此外，在REM睡眠中观察到性别差异，突出了在未来与酒精相关的睡眠研究中纳入两性的重要性。
