Effects of paradoxical sleep deprivation on hippocampal synaptophysin level in rats

    WANG Deª²Gui, SONG Yanª²Feng, ZHANG Weiª²Sheng, ZHANG Fuª²Kang, LIU Xiangª²Wen,HOU Yiª²Ping

    Department of Anatomy, Lanzhou Medical College, Lanzhou 730000, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To examine the effects of paradoxical sleep deprivation (PSD) on hippocampal synaptophysin level in the rats. METHODS: Thirtyª²four male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: ¢Ù Paradoxical sleep deprivation group (PSD, n=9), ¡°flower pot¡± technique was used to produce PSD model rat. ¢Ú Tank control group (TC, n=8), the rat was housed in water tank with larger platform (d=20 cm). ¢Û Normal cage control group (CC, n=9), CC rat was housed in normal cage. ¢Ü No swimming controls (NC, n=8). Food and water were available ad libitum for all animals. PSD, TC and CC rats were tested in Morris water maze for 4 d. Synaptophysin (SYN) was tested with immunohistochemical method. RESULTS: ¢Ù Data of swimming distance showed a significant difference between PSD and control groups (TC and CC) from d 2 to d 4 (P<0.05). ¢Ú Results of immunohistochemical staining for synaptophysin revealed that the synaptophysin content in the hippocampal formation was significantly lower in PSD and NC rats compared with CC and TC rats (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Paradoxical sleep deprivation impairs spatial reference memory with impeding the synaptic increasing in hippocampal formation. ......