Maternal sleep deprivation exposure and the consequences in offspring

Growing interest has been driven by the discovery of a tight relationship between prenatal manipulations and development of short‐ and long‐term health disorders. Our objective was to analyze developmental programming effects of maternal sleep deprivation on offspring biometric and behavioral parameters. Pregnant female Swiss mice aged 3 months were distributed into 3 groups: females deprived of sleep by gentle handling (for 6 hours) on 24 hours of pregnancy (GH24) and on 48 hours of pregnancy (GH48); and a last group which could sleep normally (CT). The offspring was weighted until the 3 rd month of age, when they were tested at activity box and elevated plus maze (EPM). The offspring weight was different at birth, and differences were observed until the end of the 1 st month, when they were weaned and the differences disappear. At EPM apparatus the GH24 group presented a decrease of time spent in the closed arms when compared to GH48 group, and GH48 group defecated less when compared to CT group. This data suggest that sleep deprivation of early mothers lead to physiologic alterations from birth to wean, and behavioral alterations were still observed in adulthood. Support: FAPESP, CNPq and AFIP.