Effects of acute physical exercise in the light phase of sleep in rats with temporal lobe epilepsy

Objective: Our aim was to investigate the influence of an acute exercise session on sleep pattern in rats with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Methods: Twenty male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to 4 groups: control (C); acute exercise (EX); epilepsy (E) and epilepsy acute exercise (EEX). Two sleep electrocorticography recordings were performed during the light phase [baseline and day 2 (after the acute physical exercise session)]. After baseline recording, the exercise groups (EX and EEX) were submitted to an exercise session on a motor-driven treadmill at 12 m/min for 30 min. Twelve hours later, the rats were submitted to the second sleep recording. Results: At baseline, the E group showed a higher wakefulness and a lower Total sleep time, Slow Wave Sleep and REM sleep compared with the C group. After acute exercise, there was an increase in Total sleep time and Slow Wave Sleep and a decrease of wakefulness in EEX (+11.10%, +20.29% and -11.25%, respectively) and EX (+5.20%, +11.60% and 8.12%, respectively) groups. Conclusion: These findings suggest that acute physical exercise positively impacts the sleep pattern of rats with TLE, inducing a more consolidated sleep.