Prostaglandins E2 and D2 have little effect on rabbit sleep.

Prostaglandins (PGs) are hypothesized to be involved in sleep regulation; PGE2 and PGD2 are major PGs in the hypothalamus of many species and are proposed to reciprocally promote wakefulness and sleep respectively. PGD2 and PGE2 are also major PGs in rabbit cerebrospinal fluid, yet their effects on rabbit sleep have not heretofore been systematically investigated. We report here that a bolus injection of PGE2 into a lateral cerebral ventricle induces dose-dependent fevers and transient sleep responses in rabbits. PGE2 induces a suppression of sleep of 24 min duration. In contrast, PGD2, across a wide range of doses (0.25-500 nmol) failed to alter sleep; however, at the highest dose it induced fever. We conclude that if PGs are involved in sleep regulation, a chronic stimulation of their production by other sleep factors is necessary.