Rapid eye movement sleep deprivation on expression of heat shock protein 70 in rat cortex and hippocampus

abstractjective To observe the spacial and temporal changes of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) expression in the rat cerebral cortex and hippocampal regions on different stages of rapid eye movement sleep deprivation. Methods The modified multiple platform methods (MMPM) were established as the rapid eye movement ( REM) sleep deprivation method. Totally 60 wister rats were involved and divided randomly into three groups, as cage control (CC) , tank control (TC) and the sleep derivation group (SD). The SD group animals were sacrificed at the end of1d,3d,5d,7d sleep deprivation periods respectively. The ABC immunohistochemistry was used in detecting HSP70 expression and distribution in the rats frontal and parietal cortex, and the different regions of hippocampal. Meanwhile, Western blot technique was specially used to the semi-quantity protein level in frontal cortex and the whole hippocampus. Results The expression of HSP70 in cerebral cortex and hippocampus was increased strongly after 1 d REM sleep deprivation. The Western blot results showed the same trend in frontal cortex. Conclusions REM sleep deprivation might transiently increase the expression of HSP70 in the rat brain. And the widespread increase of heat shock protein family expression might be a neuroprotective response to the prolonged wakefulness.