Effects of Calcitriol Supplementation on the Hematological Parameters of Sleep Deprived Wistar Rats

The present study investigates the hematologic effect of Calcitriol on rats undergoing sleep deprivation. Male Wistar rats were treated with Calcitriol 120 ng/kg and subjected to sleep deprivation for four successive days. Twenty four hour after last injection, animals were sacrificed and blood was collected for haematological analysis. A four-day sleep restriction caused a decline in total white cell count and increased mean cell hemoglobin and mean cell volume. Furthermore, red blood cell count, packed cell volume, hemoglobin concentration and mean cell hemoglobin concentration also declined in sleep deprived rats. Peripheral blood cell examination revealed that these effects were mild in rats treated with calcitriol. Our findings showed that a four-day paradoxical sleep restriction altered the biochemical integrity of erythrocytes. The observed immunosuppressive effects of sleep deprivation were reversed by exogenous vitamin D supplement, calcitriol. However, only the functional haemoglobin component of red cells was enhanced by a high dose of calcitriol which appears unbeneficial for other units of the erythroid-forming processes. It is therefore possible that the erythrocytic enhancing power of calcitriol is dose dependent and we suggest that lower doses (<120ng/kg) may be required to produce beneficial effects on erythropoiesis.