Puberty-related alterations in the organization of sleep-wakefulness states: Differences between spontaneous and induced pubertal conditions

Variations in sleep-waking states at puberty in the female rat were studied. Waking time increased due to a lengthening of the mean duration of waking episodes. Decreases in quiet and active sleep resulted from reductions in the number of episodes of each of these states. Probabilities of transition from one state to another were also affected at puberty. Precocious induction of puberty resulted in similar changes in sleep-waking states compared to those at spontaneous puberty. However, these alterations in sleep-waking patterns occurred primarily during the light period at precocious puberty and during the dark period when puberty occurred spontaneusly.