Affiliation:
1. Department of Physiology and Biophysics, The University of Tennessee, Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee 38163
Abstract
Feeding rats a cafeteria diet results in increased food intake and excess sleep. Furthermore, vagal afferent activity is altered by a variety of gastrointestinal factors, and vagal stimulation can induce sleep. We investigated, therefore, the hypothesis that the vagal nerve plays a critical role in mediating the sleep-inducing effects of cafeteria feeding. We examined the effects of a cafeteria diet on sleep, electroencephalographic (EEG) slow-wave activity (SWA), and brain temperature (Tbr) in control and vagotomized rats. EEG, electromyogram, and Tbrwere recorded for 7 consecutive days. Day 1 was considered a baseline day; normal rat chow was available ad libitum. On days 2- 4, the animals were fed, in addition to normal chow, a mixed, energy-rich diet (cafeteria diet). On days 5- 7, the rats were again fed only normal rat chow. In control rats, the cafeteria diet resulted in an increase in non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREMS), which was the result of a significant lengthening of the NREMS episodes. In contrast, feeding vagotomized rats the cafeteria diet resulted in a decrease in NREMS. Cafeteria feeding decreased REMS and EEG SWA and increased Tbrin both control and vagotomized rats. These results suggest that an intact vagus plays a key role in the NREMS-inducing effects of the cafeteria diet.
Publisher
American Physiological Society
Subject
Physiology (medical),Physiology
Cited by
38 articles.
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