A program creates visual and quantitative representations of brain electrical activity. (Credit: University of Tennessee)

Researchers have developed a free open source computer program that can be used to create visual and quantitative representations of brain electrical activity in laboratory animals in hopes of developing countermeasures for opioid use disorder.

The researchers created a multitapered spectrogram for electroencephalogram (EEG) analyses with an accessible and user-friendly code. They validated the program through analyses of EEG spectrograms of mice that had received different opioid treatments.

According to the team, there is a misconception that opioids promote sleep, but in quantitative studies of states of sleep and wakefulness using electroencephalographic recordings of brain waves, opiates are shown to disrupt sleep. They noted that drug addiction studies show that abnormal sleep is associated with increased likelihood of addiction relapse.

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