Effects of cocaine, methamphetamine and modafinil challenge on sleep rebound after paradoxical sleep deprivation in rats

Abstract

Sleep loss is both common and critically relevant to our society and might lead to the abuse of psychostimulants such as amphetamines, cocaine and modafinil. Since psychoactive substance abuse often occurs within a scenario of sleep deficit, the purpose of this investigation was to compare the sleep patterns of rats challenged with cocaine (7 mg/kg, ip), methamphetamine (7 mg/kg, ip), or modafinil (100 mg/kg, ip) subsequent to paradoxical sleep deprivation (PSD) for 96 h. Our results show that, immediately after 96 h of PSD, rats (10 per group) that were injected with a psychostimulant presented lower percentages of paradoxical sleep compared to those injected with saline (P < 0.01). Regarding slow wave sleep (SWS), rats injected with psychostimulants after PSD presented a late rebound (on the second night subsequent to the injection) in the percentage of this phase of sleep when compared to PSD rats injected with saline (P < 0.05). In addition, the current study has produced evidence of the characteristic effect of each drug on sleep architecture. Home cage control rats injected with modafinil and methamphetamine showed a reduction in SWS compared with the saline group. Methamphetamine affected sleep patterns most, since it significantly reduced paradoxical sleep, SWS and sleep efficiency before and after PSD compared to control (P < 0.05). Cocaine was the psychostimulant causing the least changes in sleep pattern in relation to those observed after saline injection. Therefore, our results suggest that abuse of these psychostimulants in a PSD paradigm aggravates their impact on sleep patterns.