Sleep fragmentation is an increase in sleep-wake transitions without an overall decrease in total sleep time. Sleep fragmentation is well documented during acute and chronic hospitalization and can result in delirium and memory problems in children. Sleep fragmentation is also often noted in neurodevelopmental disorders. However, it is unclear how sleep fragmentation independent of disease affects brain development and function. We hypothesized that acute sleep fragmentation during the neonatal period in otherwise healthy animals would result in neuroinflammation and would be associated with abnormalities in cognitive development. The orbital shaker method was used to fragment sleep for 72 h in postnatal day 3 New Zealand white rabbit kits (fragmentation group). To control for maternal separation, the sham group was separated from the dam and maintained in the same conditions without undergoing sleep fragmentation. A naïve control group remained with the dam. Kits underwent behavioral testing with novel object recognition and spontaneous alternation T-maze tests at 2-3 weeks post-fragmentation and were sacrificed 3-50 days after fragmentation. Sleep fragmentation resulted in acute and chronic changes in microglial morphology in the hippocampus and cortex, and regional differences in mRNA expression of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines at 3, 7 and 50 days post-fragmentation. Impaired novel object recognition and a longer latency in T-maze task completion were noted in the fragmented kits. This was in spite of normalization of sleep architecture noted at 2 months of age in these kits. The results indicate that transient neonatal sleep fragmentation results in short-term and long-term immune alterations in the brain, along with diminished performance in cognitive tasks long-term.

中文翻译：

---

在兔子模型中，短暂的新生儿睡眠碎片会导致长期的神经炎症和认知障碍。


睡眠碎片化是指睡眠-觉醒转换的增加，但总睡眠时间总体上没有减少。睡眠碎片化在急性和慢性住院期间有充​​分记录，并可能导致儿童出现谵妄和记忆问题。睡眠碎片化也经常出现在神经发育障碍中。然而，尚不清楚独立于疾病的睡眠碎片如何影响大脑发育和功能。我们假设，健康动物在新生儿期的急性睡眠中断会导致神经炎症，并与认知发育异常相关。采用轨道摇床法对出生后第3天的新西兰大白兔试剂盒进行72 h的睡眠碎片化（碎片化组）。为了控制母体分离，假手术组与母体分离，并保持在相同的条件下，不进行睡眠碎片化。一个天真的对照组留在了大坝身边。试剂盒在破碎后 2-3 周接受新物体识别和自发交替 T 迷宫测试的行为测试，并在破碎后 3-50 天处死。睡眠碎片化导致海马和皮层小胶质细胞形态的急性和慢性变化，以及碎片化后 3、7 和 50 天促炎细胞因子和抗炎细胞因子 mRNA 表达的区域差异。在碎片化的套件中发现新物体识别能力受损，T 迷宫任务完成延迟更长。尽管这些套件在 2 个月大时注意到睡眠结构正常化，但情况仍然如此。 结果表明，短暂的新生儿睡眠碎片化会导致大脑的短期和长期免疫改变，以及长期认知任务表现的下降。