Original article: SLEEP LOSS AND THE BRAIN VULNERABILITY TO NEURODEGENERATION: BEHAVIORAL, BIOCHEMICAL AND NEURO-HISTOPATHOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS IN A RAT MODEL

Background: Experimentally-induced total sleep deprivation (TSD) and chronic partial sleep restriction (CPSR) leads to the emergence of cognitive impairments. This is hypothesized to result from a consequent neuroinflammation which may also hasten the neurodegenerative processes. Neuroinflammatory markers such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) are thought to be potential culprits in SD-induced neurodegeneration. Methods: The effect of TSD and CPSR on memory and anxiety-related behaviors (using the Elevated Plus-Maze test-retest protocol) and serum level of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and corti-costerone were assessed in male Wistar rats subjected to the modified disk-over-water (DOW) apparatus. In addition, an immunohistochemical (IHC) study was done to possibly detect the amyloid-beta (Aβ) and hyper-phosphorylated tau protein (HPτ) deposition in the dentate gy-rus (DG) of the examined rats ’ hippocampi. Histomorphology and neuronal numerical density assessments were done at the same level across control and experimental animals. We als