Accepted in revised form 12 October 2001; recieved 2 August 2001.
A new method of selective and complete paradoxical sleep deprivation (PSD) is proposed, involving the replacement of paradoxical sleep (PS) with episodes of wakefulness equivalent in duration. In contrast to the "classical" method of momentary awakening of the animal, the new method does not lead to (1) the accumulation of a need for PS, associated with more frequent onsets of PS during deprivation; (2) PS rebound in the postdeprivation period; (3) dissociation of PS components, i.e. their occasional occurrence in the other phases of the sleep-wakefulness cycle (SWC) due to the phenomenon of self-deprivation; (4) increase in the rate of ponto-geniculo-occipital (PGO) spikes, rapid eye movements (REMs) and heart rate during PS phases in the postdeprivation rebound period. The application of this selective and complete PSD technique does not cause noticeable changes in the learning processes, functional state and integrative activity of the brain; this guaranteeing its successful use for the treatment of some psychoneurological disturbances in clinics.
Key Words: Paradoxical sleep, PS Deprivation, Accumulation, Need for PS, Wakefulness.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the Japanese Government, under the ISTC grant G-391.
Correspondence: Oniani Tengiz, Prof.,
Department of Neurobiology of Sleep-Wakefulness Cycle,
I.S. Beritashvili Institute of Physiology, Georgian Academy of Sciences,
14, L. Gotua str., Tbilisi, 380060, Georgia.
E-mail: nswc@neurobiology.ge