The role of dopamine in sleep regulation and in mediating the effects of wake-promoting therapeutics is controversial. In this study, polygraphic recordings and caudate microdialysate dopamine measurements in narcoleptic dogs revealed that the wake-promoting antinarcoleptic compounds modafinil and amphetamine increase extracellular dopamine in a hypocretin receptor 2-independent manner. In mice, deletion of the dopamine transporter (DAT) gene reduced non-rapid eye movement sleep time and increased wakefulness consolidation independently from locomotor effects. DAT knock-out mice were also unresponsive to the normally robust wake-promoting action of modafinil, methamphetamine, and the selective DAT blocker GBR12909 but were hypersensitive to the wake-promoting effects of caffeine. Thus, dopamine transporters play an important role in sleep regulation and are necessary for the specific wake-promoting action of amphetamines and modafinil.

Sleep and wakefulness are governed by both the suprachiasmatic nuclei of the hypothalamus (SCN), and a sleep homeostatic process; however, the interaction of these control systems is not well understood. From rodent studies it has been assumed that the SCN promote neither wake nor sleep but gate the homeostatic sleep-promoting process. Yet in humans sleep tendency is lowest during the later waking hours of the day, and sleep duration can be predicted because of the precise circadian timing of waking. Thus in primates, the SCN could assure sleep-wake cycle consolidation by actively promoting or facilitating wakefulness. To evaluate this hypothesis, we examined the sleep-wake and sleep-stage patterns of intact and SCN-lesioned (SCNx) squirrel monkeys maintained in constant light. This diurnal primate has consolidated sleep and wake patterns more similar to man than rodents. Sleep-wake, sleep stages, brain temperature, and drinking circadian rhythms were eliminated, and total sleep time was significantly increased (4.0 hr, P < 0.01) in SCNx monkeys. However, total times in deeper stages of non-rapid eye movement (non-REM; e.g., delta sleep) and REM sleep were not significantly affected by SCN lesions. Increased total sleep time was associated with a reduction in subjective day wake consolidation, as evidenced by substantially shorter wake bout lengths in SCNx monkeys (15 +/- 6 min) as compared to intact monkeys (223 +/- 10 min; P < 0.0001, ANOVA). These findings show that the SCN influence the regulation of daily total wake and sleep times, and implicate an alternative sleep-wake regulatory model in which an SCN-dependent process actively facilitates the initiation and maintenance of wakefulness and opposes homeostatic sleep tendency during the subjective day in diurnal primates.

Black bears hibernate for 5 to 7 months a year and, during this time, do not eat, drink, urinate, or defecate. We measured metabolic rate and body temperature in hibernating black bears and found that they suppress metabolism to 25% of basal rates while regulating body temperature from 30° to 36°C, in multiday cycles. Heart rates were reduced from 55 to as few as 9 beats per minute, with profound sinus arrhythmia. After returning to normal body temperature and emerging from dens, bears maintained a reduced metabolic rate for up to 3 weeks. The pronounced reduction and delayed recovery of metabolic rate in hibernating bears suggest that the majority of metabolic suppression during hibernation is independent of lowered body temperature.

Previous studies have demonstrated that macromolecular synthesis in the brain is modulated in association with the occurrence of sleep and wakefulness. Similarly, the spectral composition of electroencephalographic activity that occurs during sleep is dependent on the duration of prior wakefulness. Since this homeostatic relationship between wake and sleep is highly conserved across mammalian species, genes that are truly involved in the electroencephalographic response to sleep deprivation (SD) might be expected to be conserved across mammalian species. Therefore, in the rat cerebral cortex, we have studied the effects of SD on the expression of immediate early gene (IEG) and heat shock protein (HSP) mRNAs previously shown to be upregulated in the mouse brain in SD and in recovery sleep (RS) after SD. We find that the molecular response to SD and RS in the brain is highly conserved between these two mammalian species, at least in terms of expression of IEG and HSP family members. Using Affymetrix Neurobiology U34 GeneChips ® , we also screened the rat cerebral cortex, basal forebrain, and hypothalamus for other genes whose expression may be modulated by SD or RS. We find that the response of the basal forebrain to SD is more similar to that of the cerebral cortex than to the hypothalamus. Together, these results suggest that sleep-dependent changes in gene expression in the cerebral cortex are similar across rodent species and therefore may underlie sleep historydependent changes in sleep electroencephalographic activity. KeywordsTaqman analysis; sleep deprivation; immediate early genes; basal forebrain; cerebral cortex; hypothalamus HHS Public Access Author Manuscript Author ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript Author ManuscriptSleep is a homeostatic process in that the time spent asleep and the continuity of sleep states are directly related to the duration of prior wakefulness. Although sleep duration and the time spent in each of its stages are parameters commonly measured in sleep studies, sleep also has an intensity dimension, measurable by slow wave activity (SWA) in the electroencephalogram (EEG) during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. The amplitude of EEG SWA is directly proportional to the duration of prior wake and consequently has been proposed as a marker for the homeostatic regulation of sleep in mammals (Borbely and Achermann, 2000). Accordingly, sleep need, measurable as EEG SWA once sleep is initiated, is thought to accrue during wakefulness. Conversely, the decline of EEG SWA amplitude across a sleep bout is thought to reflect the diminution of the sleep-dependent "Process S" that reflects recovery from prior waking activities.The temporal dynamics of the sleep-dependent discharge of sleep need (reflected in the decay of the sleep-dependent Process S) is conserved among genetically distinct rodent strains (Franken et al., 2001). The conserved nature of Process S supports the concept that EEG SWA may be an electrophysiological marker of restorative neurochemical processes that occur during...

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