Fig. 5.

Lasting effects of prolonged sleep deprivation on cell proliferation and adult neurogenesis. Rats that were either subjected to 72 h of sleep deprivation by SP exposure (SP) or maintained as controls (CC) received a single injection of BrdU (200 mg/kg, i.p.) 6 h, 1 wk, or 2 wk later. Rats were then perfused at the 2-h (Upper) or 1-wk (Lower) survival periods to examine changes in cell proliferation and adult neurogenesis, respectively (n = 4–8). SP rats exhibited reduced cell proliferation but no effect on adult neurogenesis 6 h after unrestricted sleep recovery. In contrast, after 1 wk of recovery, both cell proliferation and adult neurogenesis were enhanced in SP animals. By 2 wk of recovery, no difference in neurogenesis was observed. Error bars indicate SEM; ∗, P < 0.05 compared with control. For purposes of comparison, BrdU-labeled cell counts for the 0-h recovery time from Fig. 1 are also presented here.