Sleep and activity rhythms in mice.

A number of studies dealing with electrographically defined wakefulness, NREM sleep, REM sleep and locomotor activity patterns in M. musculus are reviewed. The effects of genetic and environmental factors on postnatal maturation of the EEG and on sleep patterns of adult mice are considered. The effects of short light-dark cycles and of constant light on sleep and activity rhythms of different strains of mice suggest that there are different pacemaker mechanisms which regulate circadian sleep and activity rhythms and that the expansion of these mechanisms is regulated by the genetic factors.