The sequential hypothesis of sleep function. IV. A correlative analysis of sleep variables in learning and nonlearning rats.

Female adult rats were trained for a two-way active avoidance task (4 h), and allowed free sleep (3 h). Control rats (C) were left in their home cages during the acquisition period. Dural electrodes and an intraventricular cannula, implanted one week in advance, were used for EEG recording during the period of sleep and for the injection of [3H]thymidine at the beginning of the training session, respectively. Rats were killed at the end of the sleep period, and the DNA-specific activity was determined in the main brain regions and in liver. Correlations among sleep, behavioral and biochemical variables were assessed using Spearman's nonparametric method. In learning rats (L), the number of avoidances was negatively correlated with SS-W variables, and positively correlated with SS-PS variables (episodes of synchronized sleep followed by wakefulness or paradoxical sleep, respectively) and with PS variables. An inverse pattern of correlations was shown by the number of escapes or freezings. No correlations occurred in rats unable to achieve the learning criterion (NL). In L rats, the specific activity of brain DNA was negatively correlated with SS-W variables and positively correlated with SS-PS variables, while essentially no correlation concerned PS variables. On the other hand, in NL rats, comparable correlations were positive with SS-W variables and negative with SS-PS and PS variables. Few and weak correlations occurred in C rats. The data support a role of SS in brain information processing, as postulated by the sequential hypothesis on the function of sleep. In addition, they suggest that the elimination of nonadaptive memory traces may require several SS-W episodes and a terminal SS-PS episode. During PS episodes, adaptive memory traces cleared of nonadaptive components may be copied in more suitable brain sites.