Hypoglycemia activates arousal-related neurons and increases wake time in adult rats

Hypoglycemia resulting from excess of exogenous or endogenous insulin elicits central nervous system activation that contributes to counterregulatory hormone secretion. In adult humans without diabetes, hypoglycemia occurring during sleep usually produces cortical activation with awakening. However, in adult humans with type 1 diabetes, hypoglycemic arousal appears blunted or absent. We hypothesized that insulin injection sufficient to produce hypoglycemia would induce awakening in adult male rats. Polysomnographic studies were carried out to characterize the effect of insulin injection on measures of sleep and waking during a circadian time of increased sleep. Compared to a baseline day, insulin treatment more than doubled the time spent awake, from 18.4 ± 2.6% after saline injection to 48.0 ± 5.5% after insulin. Insulin injection also reduced rapid eye movement sleep (REMS) from 27.3 ± 1.8% to 5.6 ± 1.3%. The percent of time in non-REM sleep (NREMS) sleep was not different between saline and insulin days, however, NREMS after insulin was fragmented, with increased number and decreased duration of episodes. These electrophysiological data indicate that insulin-induced hypoglycemia is an arousing stimulus in rats, as in nondiabetic adult humans. We also studied the effect of insulin on activation of selected arousal-related neurons using immunohistochemical detection of Fos. Fos-immunoreactivity increased in orexin (OX) neurons after insulin, from 8.7 ± 4.9% after saline injection to 37 ± 9% after insulin. Basal forebrain cholinergic nuclei also showed increased Fos-immunoreactivity after insulin. These correlated behavioral and histological data provide targets for future studies of the neural pathways underlying hypoglycemic arousal.