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

•Rats with epilepsy presented reduced sleep efficiency at baseline.•Exercised rats with epilepsy presented increased total sleep time.•Exercised rats with epilepsy presented more slow wave sleep than control rats.

ObjectiveOur aim was to investigate the influence of an acute exercise session on sleep pattern in rats with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE).MethodsTwenty 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.ResultsAt 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.ConclusionThese findings suggest that acute physical exercise positively impacts the sleep pattern of rats with TLE, inducing a more consolidated sleep.