For the last two decades, the involvement of 5-HT(1A) receptors in the regulation of vigilance states has been studied extensively thanks to pharmacological tools, but clear-cut conclusion has not been reached yet. By studying mutant mice that do not express this receptor type (5-HT(1A)-/-) and their wild-type 129/Sv counterparts, we herein demonstrate that 5-HT(1A) receptors play key roles in the control of spontaneous sleep-wakefulness cycles, as well as in homeostatic regulation and stress-induced adaptive changes of paradoxical sleep. Both strains of mice exhibited a diurnal sleep-wakefulness rhythm, but 5-HT(1A)-/- animals expressed higher amounts of paradoxical sleep than wild-type mice during both the light and the dark phases. In wild-type mice, pharmacological blockade of 5-HT(1A) receptors by WAY 100635 (0.5 mg/kg, i.p.) promoted paradoxical sleep, whereas the 5-HT(1A) agonist 8-OH-DPAT (0.25-1 mg/kg, s.c.) had an opposite effect. In contrast, none of the 5-HT(1A) receptor ligands affected sleep significantly in 5-HT(1A)-/- mice. However, 5-HT(1B) receptor stimulation by CP 94253 (1-3 mg/kg, i.p.) induced a reduction in paradoxical sleep in both strains, this effect being more pronounced in 5-HT(1A)-/- mutants. Finally, in contrast to wild-type mice, 5-HT(1A)-/- mutants did not exhibit any rebound of paradoxical sleep after either a 9 hr instrumental paradoxical sleep deprivation or a 90 min immobilization stress. Altogether, these data indicate that, in the mouse, 5-HT(1A) receptors participate in the spontaneous and homeostatic regulation, as well as in stress-induced adaptive changes of paradoxical sleep.