Effects of chronic and acute ethanol administration on sleep in laboratory rats.

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Abstract
Male Holtzman rats (30) consumed ethanol in a sodium-saccharin solution for 12 days and 2 days later received a single dose of 15% ethanol (2 g per kg of body weight, i.p.) on the day of the sleep recording (group EE), or consumed an ethanol-free 1% saccharin solution for 12 days and received an injection of ethanol (group SE) or saline (group SS) on the recording day. During the drinking period, the animals were allowed ad lib access to rat chow. The average daily ethanol intake was 7.9 g/kg. The sleep parameter most affected by long-term ethanol administration was wake time, which was markedly lower in the 2nd half of the sleep recording period than in the 1st half in groups SS (107 vs. 63 min) and SE (86 vs. 69 min) but remained unchanged in group EE (82 vs. 84 min). The amount of slow-wave sleep increased from the 1st to the 2nd half of the recording period in the SS group (98 vs. 122 min), decreased in the EE group (124 vs. 112), and remained the same in the SE group (120 vs. 121 min). All 3 groups showed an increase in rapid eye movements (REM) sleep from the 1st to 2nd half of the recording period but group EE showed the least increase. Over the entire recording period, group SS had 11.1% REM sleep, group SE 7.6% and group EE 6.3%. Long-and short-term administration of modest, nonintoxicating doses of ethanol affects various sleep parameters, possibly through intervening neurochemical effects of ethanol on the CNS.

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