Electrographic patterns of postprandial sleep after food deprivation or intraventricular adrenaline injections in pigeons

Intense postprandial sleep-like behavior was previously reported to occur, in a similar fashion, either after feeding evoked by intracerebroventricular adrenaline injections or after interruption of prolonged (96 h) fasting in conscious pigeons. These behavioral similarities were taken as indication of a physiological role for central adrenergic circuits in avian food intake regulation. In the present study we compared sleep-related electrographic signs (EEG, EMG, and EGG) that develop following both food intake-inducing situations to further examine these correspondences and their corollaries. Our data indicate that postprandial behaviors in the pigeon include dramatic increases in the incidence of slow-wave (SWS) and rapid eye movement sleep (REMS). The temporal distribution, total amount, and mean bout duration of these sleep states, as well as the latency for the first SWS episode, were statistically similar in both feeding behavior-inducing situations. Besides confirming early behavioral data, indicative of an engagement of adrenergic central components in food intake control, our results suggest that postprandial SWS could represent an important element of the feeding-related metabolic changes in pigeons, in a similar fashion to the observed in mammalian forms.