Circadian modulation of sleep in rodents

Abstract

Sleep is regulated by circadian and homeostatic processes. The sleep homeostat keeps track of the duration of prior sleep and waking and determines the intensity of sleep. In mammals, the homeostatic process is reflected by the slow waves in the non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep electroencephalogram (EEG). The circadian process is controlled by a pacemaker located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus and provides the sleep homeostat with a circadian framework. This review summarizes the changes in sleep obtained after different chronobiological interventions (changes in photoperiod, light availability, and running wheel availability), the influence of mutations or lesions in clock genes on sleep, and research on the interaction between sleep homeostasis and the circadian clock. Research in humans shows that the period of consolidated waking during the day is a consequence of the interaction between an increasing homeostatic sleep drive and a circadian signal, which promotes waking during the day and sleep during the night. In the rat, it was shown that, under constant homeostatic sleep pressure, with similar levels of slow waves in the NREM sleep EEG at all time points of the circadian cycle, still a small circadian modulation of the duration of waking and NREM sleep episodes was observed. Under similar conditions, humans show a clear circadian modulation in REM sleep, whereas in the rat, a circadian modulation in REM sleep was not present. Therefore, in the rat, the sleep homeostatic modulation in phase with the circadian clock seems to amplify the relatively weak circadian changes in sleep induced by the circadian clock. Knowledge about the interaction between sleep and the circadian clock and the circadian modulation of sleep in other species than humans is important to better understand the underlying regulatory mechanisms.