2.7.3. Sleep induced by diethyl-ether (SID)
The effectiveness of the EO was measured by its capacity to reduce the latency to sleep and/or to increase the duration of sleep without interfering with hepatic metabolism (Tsuji et al., 1996). Thirty minutes after the treatments with EO (500, 1000 or 1500 mg/kg), animals were induced to sleep by inhalation of diethyl-ether in a 3-L flask. Each mouse was placed individually in a cylindrical glass chamber saturated for 20 min with vapor delivered from 5 ml of diethyl-ether absorbed on a piece of cotton bound in the coiled cap of the flask. Each mouse was left there for 60 s after loss of its postural reflex – sleep latency was defined as time until loss of the postural reflex – and then was withdrawn and placed in an individual cage to record the time to recover the postural reflex (sleep duration) (Héllión-Ibarrola et al., 2006).