Effect of rapid eye movement sleep deprivation on 5'-nucleotidase activity in the rat brain.

Adenosine has been implicated in the regulation of rapid eye movement sleep (REMS). In an attempt to understand the mechanism of production of adenosine in relation to REMS it was hypothesized that should it be involved in REMS, the latter's deprivation is likely to affect its synthetic machinery. Hence, male albino rats were deprived of REMS by the flower pot technique and the activity of 5'-nucleotidase, an enzyme responsible for adenosine synthesis, was estimated in the cerebrum, cerebellum and brain stem. Suitable control experiments were conducted to rule out the non-specific effects. The results showed that 5'-nucleotidase activity decreased only after 4 days deprivation and in the cerebrum only; while short-term (2 days) deprivation did not affect the enzyme activity in any of the brain areas. The altered enzyme activity returned to baseline level after recovery from REMS deprivation. The results from other control experiments suggested that the effects were primarily due to REMS deprivation and not due to non-specific factors. It is proposed that if adenosine is involved in REMS, its production is unlikely to depend on 5'-nucleotidase or it may account primarily for EEG desynchronization.