The sleep-wake cycle is an essential component of human biological rhythms and the physiological processes accompanying sleep are fundamental to brain and body recovery.
EEG sleep recordings are a unique non-invasive tool to analyse brain functioning. The dynamic relationships between brain neurotransmition systems can be directly addressed through the assessment of sleep physiology. Neurotransmission disturbances, such as those encountered in mental disorders, are reflected in spontaneous alteration of sleep continuity and architecture, or in aberrant sleep EEG responses to the administration of specific neuropsychopharmacological agents.
Sleep laboratory investigations are particularly well suited to evaluate objective effects of psychoactive drugs on sleep and wakefulness. Moreover, new compounds can be compared with reference drugs in terms of the sleep EEG profile they induce.
Finally, all-night sleep EEG spectral analysis provides a matchless technique to study the way drugs affect sleep microstructure, and therefore the core of sleep regulation mechanisms.
