Grassi-Zucconi G, Harris J A, Mohammed A H, Ambrosini M V, Kristensson K, Bentivoglio M
Department of Cell Biology, University of Perugia, Italy.
Brain Res Bull. 1995;37(2):123-9. doi: 10.1016/0361-9230(94)00265-3.
The rest-activity and body temperature 24 h cycles, as well as the structure of spontaneous sleep, were studied in rats 3 weeks after infection with monomorphic Trypanosoma brucei brucei. This parasite belongs to the species of trypanosomes that causes in humans African sleeping sickness, a neuropsychiatric syndrome that involves alterations of endogenous biological rhythms. In the infected rats, entrained to a 12 h:12 h photoperiod, a considerable hypokinesia was detected during the hours of darkness. A significant oscillation of the body temperature during 24 h was lost in some infected animals. In the other infected animals, the body temperature cycle displayed a lower amplitude and a phase advance. The mean temperature was slightly higher in the infected than in control rats during the period of light. A detailed analysis of the structure of spontaneous sleep, based on daytime electroencephalographic recordings, revealed during trypanosome infection an increased relative proportion of wake, and a decreased percent value of synchronized sleep. A marked reduction of the mean REM latency and a fragmented pattern of synchronized sleep, resulting in a considerable alteration of the REM-non-REM sleep sequences, were also observed in the infected animals. These findings indicate that trypanosomiasis in the rat results in a striking sleep fragmentation, as well as in changes of locomotor activity and body temperature rhythm. Thus, trypanosome infection in the rat provides an experimental model of sleep dysregulation in a structurally intact brain, and may provide an animal model of endogenous rhythm changes documented in African sleeping sickness.
在感染单形布氏锥虫3周后的大鼠中，研究了其静息-活动和体温的24小时周期以及自发睡眠结构。这种寄生虫属于锥虫种类，可导致人类患上非洲昏睡病，这是一种涉及内源性生物节律改变的神经精神综合征。在被感染的大鼠中，它们被置于12小时光照：12小时黑暗的光周期中，在黑暗时段检测到明显的运动减少。一些受感染动物在24小时内体温的显著振荡消失。在其他受感染动物中，体温周期的振幅较低且相位提前。在光照期间，受感染大鼠的平均体温略高于对照大鼠。基于白天脑电图记录对自发睡眠结构进行的详细分析显示，在锥虫感染期间，清醒的相对比例增加，同步睡眠的百分比值降低。在受感染动物中还观察到平均快速眼动潜伏期显著缩短以及同步睡眠的碎片化模式，导致快速眼动-非快速眼动睡眠序列发生相当大的改变。这些发现表明，大鼠的锥虫病会导致明显的睡眠碎片化，以及运动活动和体温节律的变化。因此，大鼠的锥虫感染为结构完整的大脑中的睡眠失调提供了一个实验模型，并且可能为非洲昏睡病中记录的内源性节律变化提供一个动物模型。
