Effects of sleep deprivation on gamma-amino-butyric acid and glutamate contents in rat brain.

Objective: To investigate the effects of sleep deprivation on the contents of gamma-amino-butyric acid (GABA) and glutamate (GLU) in rat brain.

Methods: Thirty rats were assigned into sleep-deprivation (SD, n=10) group (subjected to treatment on small platforms 6.5 cm of diameter), tank control (TC, n=10) group (treated on large platforms 14 cm of diameter) and control group kept in cages (CC, n=10). Rats in SD group were deprived of rapid eye movement sleep for 96 h by "flower pot" technique. High-performance liquid chromatography was used to determine the GABA and GLU contents in the 3 brain regions of the rats: the frontal cortex, hypothalamus and brain stem.

Results: The rats in SD group showed an increase in the contents of GABA and lowered ratio of GLU/GABA in all the 3 brain regions (P<0.01) compared with the rats in CC group; GLU contents were also increased in the brain stem and hypothalamus of the rats in SD group (P<0.05). No significant changes were found in TC group.

Conclusion: Rapid eye movement sleep deprivation induces significant changes in the contents and proportion of amino-acid neurotransmitter in rat brain.