Effect of Pentobarbital Sodium on Sleep Latency and Length of Sleep in the Rat

Abstract

THE effects of repeated dosages of pentobarbital sodium on two sleep responses in the rat have been investigated. The responses observed were sleep latency (the time between drug injection and an observed sleep response) and sleep length (the time between the observed sleep response and arousal). The dosage used was purposely designed to obtain a significant delay between injection and the sleep response. The study was an outgrowth of an attempt to produce, in a minimally distracting environment, a low variability but delayed sleep latency which would be susceptible to systematically introduced environmental sleep distractors. The investigations are a part of a larger programme directed toward determining the environmental antecedents of sleep.