Morphological and functional changes in rat brain under total sleep deprivation

In this article the effect of 36 h total sleep deprivation (tsd) on behavioural reactions of rats (rearing,grooming and sexual activity) and on ultrastructure of brain neurons have been studied. a group of somnogenic structures (iii-v layers of the frontal limbic cortex,ca1 area of the dorsal hippocampus,reticular formation of pons varolli,nucleus raphe dorsalis and locus coeruleus) of the brain of 6 month-old wistar rats has been analized in this study. it has been revealed that dystrophic changes (chromatolysis of cytoplasm and vacuolization) enveloping a group of medium-sized neurons (20-30 (μ) micron in diameter) are accompanied by decrease of numbers of rearing,grooming and sexual activity. it is supposed that dystrophic changes revealed in medium-sized neurons result in partial disturbances of integrative and behavioral reactions of animals.