Defining and measuring paradoxical (REM) sleep in animal models of sleep disorders

Peyron, Christelle; Arthaud, Sébastien; Villalba, Marta Pérez; Fort, Patrice

doi:10.1016/j.cophys.2020.03.008

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…Wake (WK), slow-wave sleep (SWS) and PS were assigned using the standard mouse EEG/EMG scoring method, based on rules established in wild-type mice [41]. Cataplexy was identified according to the consensual definition [42] using both EEG/EMG and simultaneous video recordings [43] and the four following criteria (1) an abrupt episode of nuchal muscle atonia lasting for at least 10 sec, (2) with immobility of the animal during the entire episode, (3) an EEG signal rich in theta and low in delta activities, and (4) at least 40 sec of WK prior to the episode (supplementary Video). In addition, attacks were considered as cataplexy when occurring outside the nest, during a period of high motor activity [39].…”

Section: Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of sex and estrous cycle on sleep and cataplexy in narcoleptic mice

Arthaud

Villalba

Blondet

et al. 2022

Sleep

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Narcolepsy type 1 (NT1) is a rare neurology disorder caused by the loss of orexin/hypocretin neurons. NT1 is characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness, sleep and wake fragmentation and cataplexy. These symptoms have been equally described in both women and men, although influences of gender and hormonal cycles have been poorly studied. Unfortunately, most studies with NT1 pre-clinical mouse models, use only male mice to limit potential variations due to the hormonal cycle. Therefore, whether gender and/or hormonal cycles impact the expression of narcoleptic symptoms remains to be determined. To address this question, we analyzed vigilance states and cataplexy in 20 female and 17 male adult orexin knock-out narcoleptic mice, with half of the females being recorded over multiple days. Mice had access to chocolate to encourage the occurrence of cataplectic episodes. A vaginal smear was performed daily in female mice to establish the state of the estrous cycle of the previous recorded night. We found that vigilance states were more fragmented in males than females, that females had less paradoxical sleep (p=0.0315) but more cataplexy (p=0.0375). Interestingly, sleep and wake features were unchanged across the female estrous cycle, but the total amount of cataplexy was doubled during estrus compared to other stages of the cycle (p=0.001), due to a large increase in the number of cataplexy episodes (p=0.0002). Altogether these data highlight sex differences in the expression of narcolepsy symptoms in orexin knock-out mice. Notably, cataplexy occurrence was greatly influenced by estrous cycle. Whether it is due to hormonal changes would need to be further explored.

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Section: Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of sex and estrous cycle on sleep and cataplexy in narcoleptic mice

Arthaud

Villalba

Blondet

et al. 2022

Sleep

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“…Detailed characterization of sleep can be performed in humans, rats, and mice 27 , 28 using complex data (e.g. brain waves) or simpler data (e.g.…”

Section: The Rtivity Softwarementioning

confidence: 99%

Automated analysis of activity, sleep, and rhythmic behaviour in various animal species with the Rtivity software

Silva

Pinho

Monteiro

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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Behavioural studies provide insights into normal and disrupted biological mechanisms. In many research areas, a growing spectrum of animal models—particularly small organisms—is used for high-throughput studies with infrared-based activity monitors, generating counts per time data. The freely available software to analyse such data, however, are primarily optimized for drosophila and circadian analysis. Researchers investigating other species or non-circadian behaviour would thus benefit from a more versatile software. Here we report the development of a free and open-source software—Rtivity—allowing customisation of species-specific parameters, and offering a versatile analysis of behavioural patterns, biological rhythms, stimulus responses, and survival. Rtivity is based on the R language and uses Shiny and the recently developed Rethomics package for a user-friendly graphical interface without requiring coding skills. Rtivity automatically assesses survival, computes various activity, sleep, and rhythmicity parameters, and performs fractal analysis of activity fluctuations. Rtivity generates multiple informative graphs, and exports structured data for efficient interoperability with common statistical software. In summary, Rtivity facilitates and enhances the versatility of the behavioural analysis of diverse animal species (e.g. drosophila, zebrafish, daphnia, ants). It is thus suitable for a broad range of researchers from multidisciplinary fields such as ecology, neurobiology, toxicology, and pharmacology.

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