Behavioral evaluation of the stress induced by the platform method for short-term paradoxical sleep deprivation in rats

To evaluate whether the results of short-term PSD (Paradoxical Sleep Deprivation) using the platform method can be influenced by stress, changes in body weight and in behavioral indices (food and water intake and ambulation and defecation in an open field) were measured in rats after each of four 5-hour sessions of confinement to small or large platforms. The animals of the two platform groups when compared to animals kept in home cages showed a similar decrease in body weight which was significant only after the first day of treatment, while no changes in the other measures were observed. It is concluded that 1) the effects of stress induced by short-term confinement to platforms do not seem to be a remarkable confounding factor in short-term PSD studies and 2) large platforms can be used both as an adequate stress control for small platforms and as a means of adapting the animals to the method. © 1989.