AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Vol 258, Issue 1 182-R186, Copyright © 1990 by American Physiological Society
Somnogenic, pyrogenic, and hematologic effects of bacterial peptidoglycan
L. Johannsen, L. A. Toth, R. S. Rosenthal, M. R. Opp, F. Obal Jr, A. B. Cady and J. M. Krueger
Department of Physiology, University of Tennessee, Memphis 38163.
Bacterial infections and certain muramyl peptides elicit a variety of
pathophysiological effects including increases in body temperature and
slow-wave sleep. Bacterial cell wall peptidoglycan is composed of muramyl
peptides. To investigate the ability of isolated bacterial cell walls to
enhance slow-wave sleep, rabbits were injected intravenously with cell
walls isolated from Staphylococcus aureus or with soluble peptidoglycan
prepared from Neisseria gonorrhoeae. These injections increased slow-wave
sleep, electroencephalographic delta-wave amplitudes, and body temperature,
reduced rapid-eye-movement sleep, and induced neutrophilia and lymphopenia.
The somnogenic and pyrogenic effects of S. aureus cell walls developed
within 1 h and persisted throughout the recording period. Injections of N.
gonorrhoeae peptidoglycan induced similar effects but of larger magnitude
and shorter duration. We conclude that peptidoglycan is a bacterial
component that mediates the increased sleep observed during infectious
disease.
