[Prolongation of sleep following creation of a generator of pathologically enhanced excitation in the orbital cortex].

Acute experiments on cats showed that injection of tetanus toxin into the orbital cortex (which destroys various types of inhibition) resulted in the formation of a local generator of pathologically enhanced excitation in this cortex area. Chronic experiments showed that cats with such a generator in the orbital cortex developed pathological changes of sleep, expressed in reduction of the duration of wakefulness and development of the slow-wave and paradoxical sleep phases being, retained. The results of this investigation confirm the view on the participation of the orbitofrontal cortex in sleep induction. They are in favour of the general conception on the role of the determinant structure in the nervous system activity and the theory of the generator mechanisms of the neuropathological syndromes characterized by the hyperactivity of the system.