Selective REM sleep restriction in mice using a device designed for tunable somatosensory stimulation.

Background: Sleep perturbation is widely used to investigate the physiological mechanisms that mediate sleep-wake dynamics, and to isolate the specific roles of sleep in health and disease. However, state-of-the-art methods to accomplish sleep perturbation in preclinical models are limited in their throughput, flexibility, and specificity.

New Method: A system was developed to deliver vibro-tactile somatosensory stimulation aimed at controlled, selective sleep perturbation.