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. 2025 Mar 17:569:85-91.
doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2025.01.064. Epub 2025 Feb 4.

Sleep and circadian rhythm activity alterations during adolescence in a mouse model of neonatal fentanyl withdrawal syndrome

Benjamin R Williams  1 , Mackenzie C Gamble  2 , Navsharan Singh  3 , Camron D Bryant  4 , Beth A Logan  5 , Ryan W Logan  6
Affiliations

Sleep and circadian rhythm activity alterations during adolescence in a mouse model of neonatal fentanyl withdrawal syndrome

Benjamin R Williams et al. Neuroscience. .

Abstract

Fentanyl, a highly potent synthetic opioid, is a major contributor to the ongoing opioid epidemic. During adulthood, fentanyl is known to induce pronounced sleep and circadian disturbances during use and withdrawal. Children exposed to opioids in utero are likely to develop neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome, and display sleep disturbances after birth. However, it is currently unknown how neonatal opioid withdrawal from fentanyl impacts sleep and circadian rhythms in mice later in life. To model neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome, mice were treated with fentanyl from postnatal days 1 through 14, analogous to the third trimester of human gestation. After weaning, fentanyl and saline treated mice underwent non-invasive sleep and circadian rhythm monitoring during adolescence postnatal days 23 through 30. Neonatal fentanyl exposure led to an increase in the percent time spent in rapid eye movement sleep across days. Thus, neonatal fentanyl exposure leads to altered sleep-wake states during adolescence in mice.

Keywords: Circadian; Fentanyl; Neonatal; Opioids; Sleep.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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