Sleep, behavior and molecular parameters of an experimental model of Restless Legs Syndrome.

• Grant number: 22/07009-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2022
• End date: October 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology
• Principal Investigator: Andrea Maculano Esteves
• Grantee: Larissa Moreira Dias
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Aplicadas (FCA). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Limeira , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) is a sensorimotor disorder related to limb movement, where symptoms generate discomfort in the lower limbs at night, making it difficult to start and continue sleep, consequently reducing the quality of sleep and life. Among the main causes of RLS are hereditary passage, alteration in brain iron homeostasis, and related to this alteration, excitation to dopaminergic and adenosinergic dysfunction. However, to date, knowledge about all the changes and interactions in these systems is scarce. Rodents with iron deficiency is the experimental model for RLS most used in research, and our group has already carried out several studies in rats as an experimental model for restless legs syndrome, however, we believe it is important to standardize the model in our laboratory. mouse to SPI to advance our research. Thus, the aim of the present study is to evaluate the molecular profile of the dopaminergic and adenosinergic systems as well as sleep and behavioral patterns in iron-deficient mice. C57 male mice will be used and after completing 21 days of life, all animals will receive the AIN93 diet, divided into a control group (40mg/kg) and an iron deficiency group (4mg/kg). At 70 days of life, electrode implantation surgery will be performed, and after 7 days of recovery, a 24-hour sleep record and behavioral recording of motor activity will be performed. At the end of the experiments (after 8 weeks of diet) euthanasia will be performed and the animals striatum will be extracted for molecular analysis of the dopaminergic (D2 receptor and dopamine transporter) and adenosinergic (A1 and A2 receptors) systems.