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Tibialis anterior electromyographic bursts during sleep in histamine‐deficient mice
Author(s) -
Berteotti Chiara,
Lo Martire Viviana,
Alvente Sara,
Bastianini Stefano,
Matteoli Gabriele,
Ohtsu Hiroshi,
Lin JianSheng,
Silvani Alessandro,
Zoccoli Giovanna
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of sleep research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.297
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1365-2869
pISSN - 0962-1105
DOI - 10.1111/jsr.13255
Subject(s) - histidine decarboxylase , restless legs syndrome , histamine , knockout mouse , tibialis anterior muscle , endocrinology , medicine , sleep (system call) , neuroscience , psychology , biology , histidine , neurology , skeletal muscle , receptor , biochemistry , operating system , amino acid , computer science
Summary Antihistamine medications have been suggested to elicit clinical features of restless legs syndrome. The available data are limited, particularly concerning periodic leg movements during sleep, which are common in restless legs syndrome and involve bursts of tibialis anterior electromyogram. Here, we tested whether the occurrence of tibialis anterior electromyogram bursts during non‐rapid eye movement sleep is altered in histidine decarboxylase knockout mice with congenital histamine deficiency compared with that in wild‐type control mice. We implanted six histidine decarboxylase knockout and nine wild‐type mice to record neck muscle electromyogram, bilateral tibialis anterior electromyogram, and electroencephalogram during the rest (light) period. The histidine decarboxylase knockout and wild‐type mice did not differ significantly in terms of sleep architecture. In both histidine decarboxylase knockout and wild‐type mice, the distribution of intervals between tibialis anterior electromyogram bursts had a single peak for intervals < 10 s. The total occurrence rate of tibialis anterior electromyogram bursts during non‐rapid eye movement sleep and the occurrence rate of the tibialis anterior electromyogram bursts separated by intervals < 10 s were significantly lower in histidine decarboxylase knockout than in wild‐type mice. These data do not support the hypothesis that preventing brain histamine signalling may promote restless legs syndrome. Rather, the data suggest that limb movements during sleep, including those separated by short intervals, are a manifestation of subcortical arousal requiring the integrity of brain histamine signalling.