Thus, direct measures of sleep and wake are indispensable in the process of drug discovery and evaluation . Laboratory rodents as models for studying the pharmacology of sleep and wakefulness. This difference does not affect the fundamental homeostatic control of sleep, and does not affect sensitivity to stimulants and hypnotics. Thus, the difference in human and rodent baseline sleep patterns, striking as it seems, is not relevant to assessing drug effects on sleep and wakefulness. Viewed across species, the NREM-REM cycle length is probably related to metabolic rate.
Rats have higher metabolic rates, and generally metabolize drugs much more quickly than humans.
Rats have relatively short periods of uninterrupted sleep, with a pronounced awakening every 10-20 minutes. Our pre-clinical drug evaluations are usually conducted using laboratory rats. The following review applies equally to both species. Response to hypnotics . All compounds that are hypnotics in human have hypnotic effects in rats, and all compounds that are hypnotics in rats have hypnotic effects in humans, as far as we know.