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Prenatal nicotine exposure alters sleep/wake behavior and cardiorespiratory response to nicotine injection in adolescent rats.
Author(s) -
Hayward Linda F.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.22.1_supplement.739.12
Subject(s) - nicotine , non rapid eye movement sleep , anesthesia , saline , medicine , sleep (system call) , heart rate , endocrinology , psychiatry , electroencephalography , computer science , blood pressure , operating system
An estimated 25% of women in the US smoke cigarettes during pregnancy. There is now evidence that the effects of prenatal nicotine (PNN) exposure can persist into adolescence. The objective of this study was to identify whether PNN exposure alters sleep/wake behavior. Adolescent male rats (45–56 days of age) exposed either to nicotine (6 mg/kg; n=3) or saline (n=3) in utero were chronically instrumented. One week following surgery, data was collected. Animals were left undisturbed for 1 hour and then received a subcutaneous injection of either saline or nicotine (0.5 mg/kg). PNN exposed animals spent significantly less time in NREM sleep (51±13% vs 70±18%, p≤0.05) compared to controls. Nicotine injection induced a significant increase in active wake time in PNN animals and reduced sleep time in both PNN and controls by approx. 25%. Both control and PNN animals showed a decline in respiratory rate (RR) when transitioning from quiet wake to NREM sleep. Nicotine injection induced an increase in RR in both groups. Nicotine‐induced increases in RR were significantly less in PNN animals but the effect persisted into NREM sleep. Resting heart rate was not significantly different between groups. These results are the first to demonstrate that PNN exposure can chronically change sleep/wake behavior in adolescent rats and re‐exposure to nicotine alters homeostatic regulation to a greater extent in PNN exposed animals. FL‐DOH