24-Hour Sleep-EEG Studies

Quantitative EEG, or qEEG, is used to examine pharmacodynamic changes in spectral power frequency bands. Recordings may use surface or depth electrodes, depending on the study design and scientific question. We provide fully flexible definition of the bands of interest. The spectral profile of a drug’s response can provide important clues as to the mechanism of action of a compound.

Sleep analysis

In combination with muscle tone, qEEG forms the backbone of our sleep analysis. Long-duration EEG recordings enable the assessment of treatment-related changes across light cycles and momentary sleep and wake states. Our proprietary automated sleep-staging algorithms have been validated against expert manual scoring, and allow us to return fully analyzed results from an entire study within 7 days of completion of the recordings. Taken together, sleep-EEG measures allow assessment of:

  • Brain penetrance
  • CNS pharmacodynamics
  • Concentration-effect relationships
  • Potential pro-cognitive activity
  • Hypotheses about dose, site of action or mechanism of action

Standard endpoints

Standard endpoints for sleep-EEG studies include:

  • %time in wakefulness, REM sleep and non-REM sleep across 24 hours
  • Sleep latency
  • Sleep fragmentation (bout length)
  • qEEG spectral profile, with state-dependent analysis in user-defined bands
  • SIGMA analysis of sleep spindles and spike-wave discharges (SWDs)
  • WAVE analysis (amplitude, density, wavelength) for user-defined bands
  • Locomotor activity
  • Core body temperature

Validation in mice

Our services include studying potential antidepressants’ and sleep modulators’ effects on rodent EEG through novel DSI technology of wireless biopotential telemetry. Transpharmation’s recent findings demonstrate the effect of sleep-inducing zolpidem (10 & 30 mg/kg) and anti-narcoleptic modafinil (100 & 300 mg/kg) as well as ketamine (5 & 10 mg/kg) and psilocybin (3 & 10 mg/kg) on sleep and EEG in male C57BL/6 mice.