2006 Spring
The Effect of Sleep Deprivation on Rat Spleen Tissue: An FTIR Approach
Research Mentor: Feride Severcan, Department of Biology, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, TURKEY
Sleep deprivation disrupts vital biological processes that are necessary for cognitive ability and physical health, but the physiological changes that underlie these effects are largely unknown. Sleep deprivation requires strong stimulation which can obscure the interpretation of effects. The disk-over-water method permits sleep deprivation of rats with gentle physical stimulation that can be equally applied to control rats. The present work investigates the effects of sleep deprivation on rat spleen at the molecular level by using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Male Wistar rats were deprived of sleep (SD) for 72 hours by placing them on small platforms surrounded by water. Control rats (C) were kept in the same environment; however platforms were big enough to allow rats to sleep. The FT-IR spectra indicate slight differences between SD and C tissues. An increase in area of olefinic band located at 3011 cm-1 indicates a slight increase in lipid peroxidation end products1. Moreover, an increase in Amide A area reveals an increase in protein content in SD tissues. This conclusion is further supported by increase in areas of Amide I and Amide II bands. There is also contribution to Amide A band from glycogens. Therefore the increase in the area of this band also indicates an increase in the glycogen content. This result is further supported by an increase in the glycogen band located at 1053 cm-1. The area calculations of CH3 asymmetric stretching (2959 cm-1), CH2 asymmetric stretching (2925 cm-1) and CH2 bending (1454 cm-1) bands clearly indicate an increase in lipid synthesis. Moreover, membrane lipids are more disordered when compared with membrane lipids of C group. Finally, no significant change in nucleic acids content was observed.