Shorter duration of non-rapid eye movement sleep slow waves in EphA4 knockout mice.

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Freyburger, Marlène; Poirier, Gaétan; Carrier, Julie; Mongrain, Valérie

2017-10-01

Slow waves occurring during non-rapid eye movement sleep have been associated with neurobehavioural performance and memory. In addition, the duration of previous wakefulness and sleep impacts characteristics of these slow waves. However, molecular mechanisms regulating the dynamics of slow-wave characteristics remain poorly understood. The EphA4 receptor regulates glutamatergic transmission and synaptic plasticity, which have both been linked to sleep slow waves. To investigate if EphA4 regulates slow-wave characteristics during non-rapid eye movement sleep, we compared individual parameters of slow waves between EphA4 knockout mice and wild-type littermates under baseline conditions and after a 6-h sleep deprivation. We observed that, compared with wild-type mice, knockout mice display a shorter duration of positive and negative phases of slow waves under baseline conditions and after sleep deprivation. However, the mutation did not change slow-wave density, amplitude and slope, and did not affect the sleep deprivation-dependent changes in slow-wave characteristics, suggesting that EphA4 is not involved in the response to elevated sleep pressure. Our present findings suggest a role for EphA4 in shaping cortical oscillations during sleep that is independent from sleep need. © 2017 European Sleep Research Society.

Slow waves, sharp waves, ripples, and REM in sleeping dragons.

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Shein-Idelson, Mark; Ondracek, Janie M; Liaw, Hua-Peng; Reiter, Sam; Laurent, Gilles

2016-04-29

Sleep has been described in animals ranging from worms to humans. Yet the electrophysiological characteristics of brain sleep, such as slow-wave (SW) and rapid eye movement (REM) activities, are thought to be restricted to mammals and birds. Recording from the brain of a lizard, the Australian dragon Pogona vitticeps, we identified SW and REM sleep patterns, thus pushing back the probable evolution of these dynamics at least to the emergence of amniotes. The SW and REM sleep patterns that we observed in lizards oscillated continuously for 6 to 10 hours with a period of ~80 seconds. The networks controlling SW-REM antagonism in amniotes may thus originate from a common, ancient oscillator circuit. Lizard SW dynamics closely resemble those observed in rodent hippocampal CA1, yet they originate from a brain area, the dorsal ventricular ridge, that has no obvious hodological similarity with the mammalian hippocampus. Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Emergence of slow collective oscillations in neural networks with spike-timing dependent plasticity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mikkelsen, Kaare; Imparato, Alberto; Torcini, Alessandro

2013-01-01

The collective dynamics of excitatory pulse coupled neurons with spike timing dependent plasticity (STDP) is studied. The introduction of STDP induces persistent irregular oscillations between strongly and weakly synchronized states, reminiscent of brain activity during slow-wave sleep. We explain...

Oscillating Square Wave Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) Delivered During Slow Wave Sleep Does Not Improve Declarative Memory More Than Sham: A Randomized Sham Controlled Crossover Study.

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Sahlem, Gregory L; Badran, Bashar W; Halford, Jonathan J; Williams, Nolan R; Korte, Jeffrey E; Leslie, Kimberly; Strachan, Martha; Breedlove, Jesse L; Runion, Jennifer; Bachman, David L; Uhde, Thomas W; Borckardt, Jeffery J; George, Mark S

2015-01-01

A 2006 trial in healthy medical students found that anodal slow oscillating tDCS delivered bi-frontally during slow wave sleep had an enhancing effect in declarative, but not procedural memory. Although there have been supporting animal studies, and similar findings in pathological groups, this study has not been replicated, or refuted, in the intervening years. We therefore tested these earlier results for replication using similar methods with the exception of current waveform (square in our study, nearly sinusoidal in the original). Our objective was to test the findings of a 2006 trial suggesting bi-frontal anodal tDCS during slow wave sleep enhances declarative memory. Twelve students (mean age 25, 9 women) free of medical problems underwent two testing conditions (active, sham) in a randomized counterbalanced fashion. Active stimulation consisted of oscillating square wave tDCS delivered during early Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) sleep. The sham condition consisted of setting-up the tDCS device and electrodes, but not turning it on during sleep. tDCS was delivered bi-frontally with anodes placed at F3/F4, and cathodes placed at mastoids. Current density was 0.517 mA/cm(2), and oscillated between zero and maximal current at a frequency of 0.75 Hz. Stimulation occurred during five-five minute blocks with 1-min inter-block intervals (25 min total stimulation). The primary outcomes were both declarative memory consolidation measured by a paired word association test (PWA), and non-declarative memory, measured by a non-dominant finger-tapping test (FTT). We also recorded and analyzed sleep EEG. There was no difference in the number of paired word associations remembered before compared to after sleep [(active = 3.1 ± 3.0 SD more associations) (sham = 3.8 ± 3.1 SD more associations)]. Finger tapping improved, (non-significantly) following active stimulation [(3.6 ± 2.7 SD correctly typed sequences) compared to sham stimulation (2.3 ± 2.2 SD correctly typed

High-frequency oscillations in human and monkey neocortex during the wake-sleep cycle.

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Le Van Quyen, Michel; Muller, Lyle E; Telenczuk, Bartosz; Halgren, Eric; Cash, Sydney; Hatsopoulos, Nicholas G; Dehghani, Nima; Destexhe, Alain

2016-08-16

Beta (β)- and gamma (γ)-oscillations are present in different cortical areas and are thought to be inhibition-driven, but it is not known if these properties also apply to γ-oscillations in humans. Here, we analyze such oscillations in high-density microelectrode array recordings in human and monkey during the wake-sleep cycle. In these recordings, units were classified as excitatory and inhibitory cells. We find that γ-oscillations in human and β-oscillations in monkey are characterized by a strong implication of inhibitory neurons, both in terms of their firing rate and their phasic firing with the oscillation cycle. The β- and γ-waves systematically propagate across the array, with similar velocities, during both wake and sleep. However, only in slow-wave sleep (SWS) β- and γ-oscillations are associated with highly coherent and functional interactions across several millimeters of the neocortex. This interaction is specifically pronounced between inhibitory cells. These results suggest that inhibitory cells are dominantly involved in the genesis of β- and γ-oscillations, as well as in the organization of their large-scale coherence in the awake and sleeping brain. The highest oscillation coherence found during SWS suggests that fast oscillations implement a highly coherent reactivation of wake patterns that may support memory consolidation during SWS.

High-frequency oscillations in human and monkey neocortex during the wake–sleep cycle

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Le Van Quyen, Michel; Muller, Lyle E.; Telenczuk, Bartosz; Halgren, Eric; Cash, Sydney; Hatsopoulos, Nicholas G.; Dehghani, Nima; Destexhe, Alain

2016-01-01

Beta (β)- and gamma (γ)-oscillations are present in different cortical areas and are thought to be inhibition-driven, but it is not known if these properties also apply to γ-oscillations in humans. Here, we analyze such oscillations in high-density microelectrode array recordings in human and monkey during the wake–sleep cycle. In these recordings, units were classified as excitatory and inhibitory cells. We find that γ-oscillations in human and β-oscillations in monkey are characterized by a strong implication of inhibitory neurons, both in terms of their firing rate and their phasic firing with the oscillation cycle. The β- and γ-waves systematically propagate across the array, with similar velocities, during both wake and sleep. However, only in slow-wave sleep (SWS) β- and γ-oscillations are associated with highly coherent and functional interactions across several millimeters of the neocortex. This interaction is specifically pronounced between inhibitory cells. These results suggest that inhibitory cells are dominantly involved in the genesis of β- and γ-oscillations, as well as in the organization of their large-scale coherence in the awake and sleeping brain. The highest oscillation coherence found during SWS suggests that fast oscillations implement a highly coherent reactivation of wake patterns that may support memory consolidation during SWS. PMID:27482084

Emergence of Slow Collective Oscillations in Neural Networks with Spike-Timing Dependent Plasticity

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Mikkelsen, Kaare; Imparato, Alberto; Torcini, Alessandro

2013-05-01

The collective dynamics of excitatory pulse coupled neurons with spike-timing dependent plasticity is studied. The introduction of spike-timing dependent plasticity induces persistent irregular oscillations between strongly and weakly synchronized states, reminiscent of brain activity during slow-wave sleep. We explain the oscillations by a mechanism, the Sisyphus Effect, caused by a continuous feedback between the synaptic adjustments and the coherence in the neural firing. Due to this effect, the synaptic weights have oscillating equilibrium values, and this prevents the system from relaxing into a stationary macroscopic state.

Spontaneous hemodynamic oscillations during human sleep and sleep stage transitions characterized with near-infrared spectroscopy.

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Tiina Näsi

Full Text Available Understanding the interaction between the nervous system and cerebral vasculature is fundamental to forming a complete picture of the neurophysiology of sleep and its role in maintaining physiological homeostasis. However, the intrinsic hemodynamics of slow-wave sleep (SWS are still poorly known. We carried out 30 all-night sleep measurements with combined near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS and polysomnography to investigate spontaneous hemodynamic behavior in SWS compared to light (LS and rapid-eye-movement sleep (REM. In particular, we concentrated on slow oscillations (3-150 mHz in oxy- and deoxyhemoglobin concentrations, heart rate, arterial oxygen saturation, and the pulsation amplitude of the photoplethysmographic signal. We also analyzed the behavior of these variables during sleep stage transitions. The results indicate that slow spontaneous cortical and systemic hemodynamic activity is reduced in SWS compared to LS, REM, and wakefulness. This behavior may be explained by neuronal synchronization observed in electrophysiological studies of SWS and a reduction in autonomic nervous system activity. Also, sleep stage transitions are asymmetric, so that the SWS-to-LS and LS-to-REM transitions, which are associated with an increase in the complexity of cortical electrophysiological activity, are characterized by more dramatic hemodynamic changes than the opposite transitions. Thus, it appears that while the onset of SWS and termination of REM occur only as gradual processes over time, the termination of SWS and onset of REM may be triggered more abruptly by a particular physiological event or condition. The results suggest that scalp hemodynamic changes should be considered alongside cortical hemodynamic changes in NIRS sleep studies to assess the interaction between the autonomic and central nervous systems.

The comodulation measure of neuronal oscillations with general harmonic wavelet bicoherence and application to sleep analysis.

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Li, Xiaoli; Li, Duan; Voss, Logan J; Sleigh, Jamie W

2009-11-15

Brain functions are related to neuronal networks of different sizes and distribution, and neuronal networks of different sizes oscillate at different frequencies. Thus the synchronization of neuronal networks is often reflected by cross-frequency interaction. The description of this cross-frequency interaction is therefore a crucial issue in understanding the modulation mechanisms between neuronal populations. A number of different kinds of interaction between frequencies have been reported. In this paper, we develop a general harmonic wavelet transform based bicoherence using a phase randomization method. This allows us to measure the comodulation of oscillations between different frequency bands in neuronal populations. The performance of the method is evaluated by a simulation study. The results show that the improved wavelet bicoherence method can detect a reliable phase coupling value, and also identify zero bicoherence for waves that are not phase-coupled. Spurious bicoherences can be effectively eliminated through the phase randomization method. Finally, this method is applied to electrocorticogram data recorded from rats during transitions between slow-wave sleep, rapid-eye movement sleep and waking. The phase coupling in rapid-eye movement sleep is statistically lower than that during slow-wave sleep, and slightly less than those in the wakeful state. The degree of phase coupling in rapid-eye movement sleep after slow-wave sleep is greater than in rapid-eye movement sleep prior to waking. This method could be applied to investigate the cross-frequency interactions in other physiological signals.

Cardiovascular and respiratory changes during slow-wave sleep in rats are associated with electrocorticogram desynchronization

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J.R. Dias-dos-Santos

1997-11-01

Full Text Available In awake rats a single recurrent larger tidal volume (deep breaths occurs at regular intervals, followed by oscillations in arterial pressure and heart rate. In the present study we recorded the changes in blood pressure, heart rate and ventilation during the wakefulness-sleep cycle identified by electrocorticographic records in order to determine whether the deep breaths and cardiovascular oscillations were associated with changes in the electrocorticogram. During several episodes of slow-wave sleep (SWS in 7 rats the deep breaths and oscillations in arterial pressure and heart rate were preceded by SWS desynchronization. The interval between deep breaths during SWS was 71 ± 4 s, the period between initial desynchronization and the generation of deep breaths was 3.98 ± 0.45 s and the duration of SWS desynchronization was 11 ± 0.65 s. Hypotension (-16 ± 1 mmHg and tachycardia (+15 ± 5 bpm were observed during deep breaths in the SWS state. These data indicate that the oscillations in arterial pressure and heart rate during SWS are associated with deep breaths, which in turn are preceded by desynchronization of the electrocorticogram in this state of sleep

Enhancement of sleep slow waves: underlying mechanisms and practical consequences.

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Michele eBellesi

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Even modest sleep restriction, especially the loss of sleep slow wave activity, is invariably associated with slower EEG activity during wake, the occurrence of local sleep in an otherwise awake brain, and impaired performance due to cognitive and memory deficits. Recent studies not only confirm the beneficial role of sleep in memory consolidation, but also point to a specific role for sleep slow waves. Thus, the implementation of methods to enhance sleep slow waves without unwanted arousals or lightening of sleep could have significant practical implications. Here we first review the evidence that it is possible to enhance sleep slow waves in humans using transcranial direct-current stimulation and transcranial magnetic stimulation. Since these methods are currently impractical and their safety is questionable, especially for chronic long-term exposure, we then discuss novel data suggesting that it is possible to enhance slow waves using sensory stimuli. We consider the physiology of the K-complex, a peripheral evoked slow wave, and show that, among different sensory modalities, acoustic stimulation is the most effective in increasing the magnitude of slow waves, likely through the activation of non-lemniscal ascending pathways to the thalamo-cortical system. In addition, we discuss how intensity and frequency of the acoustic stimuli, as well as exact timing and pattern of stimulation, affect sleep enhancement. Finally, we discuss automated algorithms that read the EEG and, in real-time, adjust the stimulation parameters in a closed-loop manner to obtain an increase in sleep slow waves and avoid undesirable arousals. In conclusion, while discussing the mechanisms that underlie the generation of sleep slow waves, we review the converging evidence showing that acoustic stimulation is safe and represents an ideal tool for slow wave sleep enhancement.

The Roles of Cortical Slow Waves in Synaptic Plasticity and Memory Consolidation

OpenAIRE

Miyamoto, Daisuke; Hirai, Daichi; Murayama, Masanori

2017-01-01

Sleep plays important roles in sensory and motor memory consolidation. Sleep oscillations, reflecting neural population activity, involve the reactivation of learning-related neurons and regulate synaptic strength and, thereby affect memory consolidation. Among sleep oscillations, slow waves (0.5–4 Hz) are closely associated with memory consolidation. For example, slow-wave power is regulated in an experience-dependent manner and correlates with acquired memory. Furthermore, manipulating slow...

Sleep for cognitive enhancement

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Susanne eDiekelmann

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Sleep is essential for effective cognitive functioning. Loosing even a few hours of sleep can have detrimental effects on a wide variety of cognitive processes such as attention, language, reasoning, decision making, learning and memory. While sleep is necessary to ensure normal healthy cognitive functioning, it can also enhance performance beyond the boundaries of the normal condition. This article discusses the enhancing potential of sleep, mainly focusing on the domain of learning and memory. Sleep is known to facilitate the consolidation of memories learned before sleep as well as the acquisition of new memories to be learned after sleep. According to a widely held model this beneficial effect of sleep relies on the neuronal reactivation of memories during sleep that is associated with sleep-specific brain oscillations (slow oscillations, spindles, ripples as well as a characteristic neurotransmitter milieu. Recent research indicates that memory processing during sleep can be boosted by (i cueing memory reactivation during sleep, (ii stimulating sleep-specific brain oscillations, and (iii targeting specific neurotransmitter systems pharmacologically. Olfactory and auditory cues can be used, for example, to increase reactivation of associated memories during post-learning sleep. Intensifying neocortical slow oscillations (the hallmark of slow wave sleep by electrical or auditory stimulation and modulating specific neurotransmitters such as noradrenaline and glutamate likewise facilitates memory processing during sleep. With this evidence in mind, this article concludes by discussing different methodological caveats and ethical issues that should be considered when thinking about using sleep for cognitive enhancement in everyday applications.

Transcranial electrical currents to probe EEG brain rhythms and memory consolidation during sleep in humans.

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Lisa Marshall

Full Text Available Previously the application of a weak electric anodal current oscillating with a frequency of the sleep slow oscillation (∼0.75 Hz during non-rapid eye movement sleep (NonREM sleep boosted endogenous slow oscillation activity and enhanced sleep-associated memory consolidation. The slow oscillations occurring during NonREM sleep and theta oscillations present during REM sleep have been considered of critical relevance for memory formation. Here transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS oscillating at 5 Hz, i.e., within the theta frequency range (theta-tDCS is applied during NonREM and REM sleep. Theta-tDCS during NonREM sleep produced a global decrease in slow oscillatory activity conjoint with a local reduction of frontal slow EEG spindle power (8-12 Hz and a decrement in consolidation of declarative memory, underlining the relevance of these cortical oscillations for sleep-dependent memory consolidation. In contrast, during REM sleep theta-tDCS appears to increase global gamma (25-45 Hz activity, indicating a clear brain state-dependency of theta-tDCS. More generally, results demonstrate the suitability of oscillating-tDCS as a tool to analyze functions of endogenous EEG rhythms and underlying endogenous electric fields as well as the interactions between EEG rhythms of different frequencies.

Promoting Sleep Oscillations and Their Functional Coupling by Transcranial Stimulation Enhances Memory Consolidation in Mild Cognitive Impairment.

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Ladenbauer, Julia; Ladenbauer, Josef; Külzow, Nadine; de Boor, Rebecca; Avramova, Elena; Grittner, Ulrike; Flöel, Agnes

2017-07-26

Alzheimer's disease (AD) not only involves loss of memory functions, but also prominent deterioration of sleep physiology, which is already evident at the stage of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Cortical slow oscillations (SO; 0.5-1 Hz) and thalamocortical spindle activity (12-15 Hz) during sleep, and their temporal coordination, are considered critical for memory formation. We investigated the potential of slow oscillatory transcranial direct current stimulation (so-tDCS), applied during a daytime nap in a sleep-state-dependent manner, to modulate these activity patterns and sleep-related memory consolidation in nine male and seven female human patients with MCI. Stimulation significantly increased overall SO and spindle power, amplified spindle power during SO up-phases, and led to stronger synchronization between SO and spindle power fluctuations in EEG recordings. Moreover, visual declarative memory was improved by so-tDCS compared with sham stimulation and was associated with stronger synchronization. These findings indicate a well-tolerated therapeutic approach for disordered sleep physiology and memory deficits in MCI patients and advance our understanding of offline memory consolidation. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT In the light of increasing evidence that sleep disruption is crucially involved in the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD), sleep appears as a promising treatment target in this pathology, particularly to counteract memory decline. This study demonstrates the potential of a noninvasive brain stimulation method during sleep in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a precursor of AD, and advances our understanding of its mechanism. We provide first time evidence that slow oscillatory transcranial stimulation amplifies the functional cross-frequency coupling between memory-relevant brain oscillations and improves visual memory consolidation in patients with MCI. Copyright © 2017 the authors 0270-6474/17/377111-14$15.00/0.

Asynchronous ripple oscillations between left and right hippocampi during slow-wave sleep.

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Villalobos, Claudio; Maldonado, Pedro E; Valdés, José L

2017-01-01

Spatial memory, among many other brain processes, shows hemispheric lateralization. Most of the published evidence suggests that the right hippocampus plays a leading role in the manipulation of spatial information. Concurrently in the hippocampus, memory consolidation during sleep periods is one of the key steps in the formation of newly acquired spatial memory traces. One of the most characteristic oscillatory patterns in the hippocampus are sharp-wave ripple (SWR) complexes. Within this complex, fast-field oscillations or ripples have been demonstrated to be instrumental in the memory consolidation process. Since these ripples are relevant for the consolidation of memory traces associated with spatial navigation, and this process appears to be lateralized, we hypothesize that ripple events between both hippocampi would exhibit different temporal dynamics. We tested this idea by using a modified "split-hyperdrive" that allows us to record simultaneous LFPs from both right and left hippocampi of Sprague-Dawley rats during sleep. We detected individual events and found that during sleep periods these ripples exhibited a different occurrence patterns between hemispheres. Most ripple events were synchronous between intra- rather than inter-hemispherical recordings, suggesting that ripples in the hippocampus are independently generated and locally propagated within a specific hemisphere. In this study, we propose the ripples' lack of synchrony between left and right hippocampi as the putative physiological mechanism underlying lateralization of spatial memory.

Effects of partial sleep deprivation on slow waves during non-rapid eye movement sleep: A high density EEG investigation.

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Plante, David T; Goldstein, Michael R; Cook, Jesse D; Smith, Richard; Riedner, Brady A; Rumble, Meredith E; Jelenchick, Lauren; Roth, Andrea; Tononi, Giulio; Benca, Ruth M; Peterson, Michael J

2016-02-01

Changes in slow waves during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep in response to acute total sleep deprivation are well-established measures of sleep homeostasis. This investigation utilized high-density electroencephalography (hdEEG) to examine topographic changes in slow waves during repeated partial sleep deprivation. Twenty-four participants underwent a 6-day sleep restriction protocol. Spectral and period-amplitude analyses of sleep hdEEG data were used to examine changes in slow wave energy, count, amplitude, and slope relative to baseline. Changes in slow wave energy were dependent on the quantity of NREM sleep utilized for analysis, with widespread increases during sleep restriction and recovery when comparing data from the first portion of the sleep period, but restricted to recovery sleep if the entire sleep episode was considered. Period-amplitude analysis was less dependent on the quantity of NREM sleep utilized, and demonstrated topographic changes in the count, amplitude, and distribution of slow waves, with frontal increases in slow wave amplitude, numbers of high-amplitude waves, and amplitude/slopes of low amplitude waves resulting from partial sleep deprivation. Topographic changes in slow waves occur across the course of partial sleep restriction and recovery. These results demonstrate a homeostatic response to partial sleep loss in humans. Copyright © 2015 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Overnight changes in the slope of sleep slow waves during infancy.

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Fattinger, Sara; Jenni, Oskar G; Schmitt, Bernhard; Achermann, Peter; Huber, Reto

2014-02-01

Slow wave activity (SWA, 0.5-4.5 Hz) is a well-established marker for sleep pressure in adults. Recent studies have shown that increasing sleep pressure is reflected by an increased synchronized firing pattern of cortical neurons, which can be measured by the slope of sleep slow waves. Thus we aimed at investigating whether the slope of sleep slow waves might provide an alternative marker to study the homeostatic regulation of sleep during early human development. All-night sleep electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded longitudinally at 2, 4, 6, and 9 months after birth. Home recording. 11 healthy full-term infants (5 male, 6 female). None. The slope of sleep slow waves increased with age. At all ages the slope decreased from the first to the last hour of non rapid-eye-movement (NREM) sleep, even when controlling for amplitude differences (P why the steepest slope was found in the occipital derivation. Our results provide evidence that the homeostatic regulation of sleep develops early in human infants.

Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Electrographic Status Epilepticus in Slow-Wave Sleep.

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Carosella, Christopher M; Greiner, Hansel M; Byars, Anna W; Arthur, Todd M; Leach, James L; Turner, Michele; Holland, Katherine D; Mangano, Francesco T; Arya, Ravindra

2016-07-01

Electrographic status epilepticus in slow sleep or continuous spike and waves during slow-wave sleep is an epileptic encephalopathy characterized by seizures, neurocognitive regression, and significant activation of epileptiform discharges during nonrapid eye movement sleep. There is no consensus on the diagnostic criteria and evidence-based optimal treatment algorithm for children with electrographic status epilepticus in slow sleep. We describe a 12-year-old girl with drug-resistant electrographic status epilepticus in slow wave sleep that was successfully treated with vagus nerve stimulation. Her clinical presentation, presurgical evaluation, decision-making, and course after vagus nerve stimulator implantation are described in detail. After vagus nerve stimulator implantation, the girl remained seizure free for more than a year, resolved the electrographic status epilepticus in slow sleep pattern on electroencephalography, and exhibited significant cognitive improvement. Vagus nerve stimulation may be considered for electrographic status epilepticus in slow sleep. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Role of biological membranes in slow-wave sleep.

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Karnovsky, M L

1991-02-01

Two involvements of cellular membranes in slow-wave sleep (SWS) are discussed. In the first the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is focussed upon, and in the second, the plasmalemma, where specific binding sites (receptors?) for promoters of slow-wave sleep are believed to be located. The study concerning the ER focuses on an enzyme in the brain, glucose-6-phosphatase, which, although present at low levels, manifests greatly increased activity during SWS compared to the waking state. The work on the plasmalemma has to do with the specific binding of muramyl peptides, inducers of slow-wave sleep, to various cells, and membrane preparations of various sorts, including those from brain tissue. Such cells as macrophages from mice, B-lymphocytes from human blood, and cells from a cell line (C-6 glioma) have been examined in this context.

Infra-slow oscillation (ISO of the pupil size of urethane-anaesthetised rats.

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Tomasz Blasiak

Full Text Available Multiplicity of oscillatory phenomena in a range of infra-slow frequencies (<0.01 Hz has been described in mammalian brains at different levels of organisation. The significance and manifestation in physiology and/or behaviour of many brain infra-slow oscillations (ISO remain unknown. Examples of this phenomenon are two types of ISO observed in the brains of urethane-anaesthetised rats: infra-slow, rhythmic changes in the rate of action potential firing in a few nuclei of the subcortical visual system and a sleep-like cycle of activation/deactivation visible in the EEG signal. Because both of these rhythmic phenomena involve brain networks that can influence autonomic nervous system activity, we hypothesised that these two brain ISOs can be reflected by rhythmic changes of pupil size. Thus, in the present study, we used simultaneous pupillography and ECoG recording to verify the hypothesised existence of infra-slow oscillations in the pupil size of urethane-anaesthetised rats. The obtained results showed rhythmic changes in the size of the pupils and rhythmic eyeball movements in urethane-anaesthetised rats. The observed rhythms were characterised by two different dominant components in a range of infra-slow frequencies. First, the long component had a period of ≈ 29 minutes and was present in both the irises and the eyeball movements. Second, the short component had a period of ≈ 2 minutes and was observed only in the rhythmic constrictions and dilations of the pupils. Both ISOs were simultaneously present in both eyes, and they were synchronised between the left and right eye. The long ISO component was synchronised with the cyclic alternations of the brain state, as revealed by rhythmic changes in the pattern of the ECoG signal. Based on the obtained results, we propose a model of interference of ISO present in different brain systems involved in the control of pupil size.

Neuronal ensemble for visual working memory via interplay of slow and fast oscillations.

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Mizuhara, Hiroaki; Yamaguchi, Yoko

2011-05-01

The current focus of studies on neural entities for memory maintenance is on the interplay between fast neuronal oscillations in the gamma band and slow oscillations in the theta or delta band. The hierarchical coupling of slow and fast oscillations is crucial for the rehearsal of sensory inputs for short-term storage, as well as for binding sensory inputs that are represented in spatially segregated cortical areas. However, no experimental evidence for the binding of spatially segregated information has yet been presented for memory maintenance in humans. In the present study, we actively manipulated memory maintenance performance with an attentional blink procedure during human scalp electroencephalography (EEG) recordings and identified that slow oscillations are enhanced when memory maintenance is successful. These slow oscillations accompanied fast oscillations in the gamma frequency range that appeared at spatially segregated scalp sites. The amplitude of the gamma oscillation at these scalp sites was simultaneously enhanced at an EEG phase of the slow oscillation. Successful memory maintenance appears to be achieved by a rehearsal of sensory inputs together with a coordination of distributed fast oscillations at a preferred timing of the slow oscillations. © 2011 The Authors. European Journal of Neuroscience © 2011 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

The Roles of Cortical Slow Waves in Synaptic Plasticity and Memory Consolidation.

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Miyamoto, Daisuke; Hirai, Daichi; Murayama, Masanori

2017-01-01

Sleep plays important roles in sensory and motor memory consolidation. Sleep oscillations, reflecting neural population activity, involve the reactivation of learning-related neurons and regulate synaptic strength and, thereby affect memory consolidation. Among sleep oscillations, slow waves (0.5-4 Hz) are closely associated with memory consolidation. For example, slow-wave power is regulated in an experience-dependent manner and correlates with acquired memory. Furthermore, manipulating slow waves can enhance or impair memory consolidation. During slow wave sleep, inter-areal interactions between the cortex and hippocampus (HC) have been proposed to consolidate declarative memory; however, interactions for non-declarative (HC-independent) memory remain largely uninvestigated. We recently showed that the directional influence in a slow-wave range through a top-down cortical long-range circuit is involved in the consolidation of non-declarative memory. At the synaptic level, the average cortical synaptic strength is known to be potentiated during wakefulness and depressed during sleep. Moreover, learning causes plasticity in a subset of synapses, allocating memory to them. Sleep may help to differentiate synaptic strength between allocated and non-allocated synapses (i.e., improving the signal-to-noise ratio, which may facilitate memory consolidation). Herein, we offer perspectives on inter-areal interactions and synaptic plasticity for memory consolidation during sleep.

The Roles of Cortical Slow Waves in Synaptic Plasticity and Memory Consolidation

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Daisuke Miyamoto

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Sleep plays important roles in sensory and motor memory consolidation. Sleep oscillations, reflecting neural population activity, involve the reactivation of learning-related neurons and regulate synaptic strength and, thereby affect memory consolidation. Among sleep oscillations, slow waves (0.5–4 Hz are closely associated with memory consolidation. For example, slow-wave power is regulated in an experience-dependent manner and correlates with acquired memory. Furthermore, manipulating slow waves can enhance or impair memory consolidation. During slow wave sleep, inter-areal interactions between the cortex and hippocampus (HC have been proposed to consolidate declarative memory; however, interactions for non-declarative (HC-independent memory remain largely uninvestigated. We recently showed that the directional influence in a slow-wave range through a top-down cortical long-range circuit is involved in the consolidation of non-declarative memory. At the synaptic level, the average cortical synaptic strength is known to be potentiated during wakefulness and depressed during sleep. Moreover, learning causes plasticity in a subset of synapses, allocating memory to them. Sleep may help to differentiate synaptic strength between allocated and non-allocated synapses (i.e., improving the signal-to-noise ratio, which may facilitate memory consolidation. Herein, we offer perspectives on inter-areal interactions and synaptic plasticity for memory consolidation during sleep.

The slow oscillation in cortical and thalamic networks: mechanisms and functions

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Garrett T. Neske

2016-01-01

Full Text Available During even the most quiescent behavioral periods, the cortex and thalamus express rich spontaneous activity in the form of slow (<1 Hz, synchronous network state transitions. Throughout this so-called slow oscillation, cortical and thalamic neurons fluctuate between periods of intense synaptic activity (Up states and almost complete silence (Down states. The two decades since the original characterization of the slow oscillation in the cortex and thalamus have seen considerable advances in deciphering the cellular and network mechanisms associated with this pervasive phenomenon. There are, nevertheless, many questions regarding the slow oscillation that await more thorough illumination, particularly the mechanisms by which Up states initiate and terminate, the functional role of the rhythmic activity cycles in unconscious or minimally conscious states, and the precise relation between Up states and the activated states associated with waking behavior. Given the substantial advances in multineuronal recording and imaging methods in both in vivo and in vitro preparations, the time is ripe to take stock of our current understanding of the slow oscillation and pave the way for future investigations of its mechanisms and functions. My aim in this Review is to provide a comprehensive account of the mechanisms and functions of the slow oscillation, and to suggest avenues for further exploration.

Nitrous oxide-induced slow and delta oscillations.

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Pavone, Kara J; Akeju, Oluwaseun; Sampson, Aaron L; Ling, Kelly; Purdon, Patrick L; Brown, Emery N

2016-01-01

Switching from maintenance of general anesthesia with an ether anesthetic to maintenance with high-dose (concentration >50% and total gas flow rate >4 liters per minute) nitrous oxide is a common practice used to facilitate emergence from general anesthesia. The transition from the ether anesthetic to nitrous oxide is associated with a switch in the putative mechanisms and sites of anesthetic action. We investigated whether there is an electroencephalogram (EEG) marker of this transition. We retrospectively studied the ether anesthetic to nitrous oxide transition in 19 patients with EEG monitoring receiving general anesthesia using the ether anesthetic sevoflurane combined with oxygen and air. Following the transition to nitrous oxide, the alpha (8-12 Hz) oscillations associated with sevoflurane dissipated within 3-12 min (median 6 min) and were replaced by highly coherent large-amplitude slow-delta (0.1-4 Hz) oscillations that persisted for 2-12 min (median 3 min). Administration of high-dose nitrous oxide is associated with transient, large amplitude slow-delta oscillations. We postulate that these slow-delta oscillations may result from nitrous oxide-induced blockade of major excitatory inputs (NMDA glutamate projections) from the brainstem (parabrachial nucleus and medial pontine reticular formation) to the thalamus and cortex. This EEG signature of high-dose nitrous oxide may offer new insights into brain states during general anesthesia. Copyright © 2015 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Glutamate microinjection in the medial septum of rats decreases paradoxical sleep and increases slow wave sleep.

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Mukherjee, Didhiti; Kaushik, Mahesh K; Jaryal, Ashok Kumar; Kumar, Velayudhan Mohan; Mallick, Hruda Nanda

2012-05-09

The role of the medial septum in suppressing paradoxical sleep and promoting slow wave sleep was suggested on the basis of neurotoxic lesion studies. However, these conclusions need to be substantiated with further experiments, including chemical stimulation studies. In this report, the medial septum was stimulated in adult male rats by microinjection of L-glutamate. Sleep-wakefulness was electrophysiologically recorded, through chronically implanted electrodes, for 2 h before the injection and 4 h after the injection. There was a decrease in paradoxical sleep during the first hour and an increase in slow wave sleep during the second hour after the injection. The present findings not only supported the lesion studies but also showed that the major role of the medial septum is to suppress paradoxical sleep.

What drives slow wave activity during early non-REM sleep: Learning during prior wake or effort?

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Ziyang Li

Full Text Available What is the function of sleep in humans? One claim is that sleep consolidates learning. Slow wave activity (SWA, i.e. slow oscillations of frequency < 4 Hz, has been observed in electroencephalograms (EEG during sleep; it increases with prior wakefulness and decreases with sleep. Studies have claimed that increase in SWA in specific regions of the sleeping brain is correlated with overnight improved performance, i.e. overnight consolidation, on a demanding motor learning task. We wondered if SWA change during sleep is attributable to overnight consolidation or to metabolic demand. Participants executed out-and-back movements to a target using a pen-like cursor with their dominant hand while the target and cursor position were displayed on a screen. They trained on three different conditions on separate nights, differing in the amount and degree of rotation between the actual hand movement direction and displayed cursor movement direction. In the no-rotation (NR condition, there was no rotation. In the single rotation (SR condition, the amount of rotation remained the same throughout, and performance improved both across pre-sleep training and after sleep, i.e. overnight consolidation occurred; in the random rotation (RR condition, the amount of rotation varied randomly from trial to trial, and no overnight consolidation occurred; SR and RR were cognitively demanding. The average EEG power density of SWA for the first 30 min. of non-rapid eye movement sleep after training was computed. Both SR and RR elicited increase in SWA in the parietal region; furthermore, the topographic distribution of SWA in each was remarkably similar. No correlation was found between the overnight performance improvement on SR and the SWA change in the parietal region on measures of learning. Our results argue that regulation of SWA in early sleep is associated with high levels of cognitive effort during prior wakefulness, and not just overnight consolidation.

Interacting Turing-Hopf Instabilities Drive Symmetry-Breaking Transitions in a Mean-Field Model of the Cortex: A Mechanism for the Slow Oscillation

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Steyn-Ross, Moira L.; Steyn-Ross, D. A.; Sleigh, J. W.

2013-04-01

Electrical recordings of brain activity during the transition from wake to anesthetic coma show temporal and spectral alterations that are correlated with gross changes in the underlying brain state. Entry into anesthetic unconsciousness is signposted by the emergence of large, slow oscillations of electrical activity (≲1Hz) similar to the slow waves observed in natural sleep. Here we present a two-dimensional mean-field model of the cortex in which slow spatiotemporal oscillations arise spontaneously through a Turing (spatial) symmetry-breaking bifurcation that is modulated by a Hopf (temporal) instability. In our model, populations of neurons are densely interlinked by chemical synapses, and by interneuronal gap junctions represented as an inhibitory diffusive coupling. To demonstrate cortical behavior over a wide range of distinct brain states, we explore model dynamics in the vicinity of a general-anesthetic-induced transition from “wake” to “coma.” In this region, the system is poised at a codimension-2 point where competing Turing and Hopf instabilities coexist. We model anesthesia as a moderate reduction in inhibitory diffusion, paired with an increase in inhibitory postsynaptic response, producing a coma state that is characterized by emergent low-frequency oscillations whose dynamics is chaotic in time and space. The effect of long-range axonal white-matter connectivity is probed with the inclusion of a single idealized point-to-point connection. We find that the additional excitation from the long-range connection can provoke seizurelike bursts of cortical activity when inhibitory diffusion is weak, but has little impact on an active cortex. Our proposed dynamic mechanism for the origin of anesthetic slow waves complements—and contrasts with—conventional explanations that require cyclic modulation of ion-channel conductances. We postulate that a similar bifurcation mechanism might underpin the slow waves of natural sleep and comment on the

Sevoflurane Induces Coherent Slow-Delta Oscillations in Rats

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Jennifer A. Guidera

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Although general anesthetics are routinely administered to surgical patients to induce loss of consciousness, the mechanisms underlying anesthetic-induced unconsciousness are not fully understood. In rats, we characterized changes in the extradural EEG and intracranial local field potentials (LFPs within the prefrontal cortex (PFC, parietal cortex (PC, and central thalamus (CT in response to progressively higher doses of the inhaled anesthetic sevoflurane. During induction with a low dose of sevoflurane, beta/low gamma (12–40 Hz power increased in the frontal EEG and PFC, PC and CT LFPs, and PFC–CT and PFC–PFC LFP beta/low gamma coherence increased. Loss of movement (LOM coincided with an abrupt decrease in beta/low gamma PFC–CT LFP coherence. Following LOM, cortically coherent slow-delta (0.1–4 Hz oscillations were observed in the frontal EEG and PFC, PC and CT LFPs. At higher doses of sevoflurane sufficient to induce loss of the righting reflex, coherent slow-delta oscillations were dominant in the frontal EEG and PFC, PC and CT LFPs. Dynamics similar to those observed during induction were observed as animals emerged from sevoflurane anesthesia. We conclude that the rat is a useful animal model for sevoflurane-induced EEG oscillations in humans, and that coherent slow-delta oscillations are a correlate of sevoflurane-induced behavioral arrest and loss of righting in rats.

REM sleep behaviour disorder is associated with lower fast and higher slow sleep spindle densities.

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O'Reilly, Christian; Godin, Isabelle; Montplaisir, Jacques; Nielsen, Tore

2015-12-01

To investigate differences in sleep spindle properties and scalp topography between patients with rapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) and healthy controls, whole-night polysomnograms of 35 patients diagnosed with RBD and 35 healthy control subjects matched for age and sex were compared. Recordings included a 19-lead 10-20 electroencephalogram montage and standard electromyogram, electrooculogram, electrocardiogram and respiratory leads. Sleep spindles were automatically detected using a standard algorithm, and their characteristics (amplitude, duration, density, frequency and frequency slope) compared between groups. Topological analyses of group-discriminative features were conducted. Sleep spindles occurred at a significantly (e.g. t34 = -4.49; P = 0.00008 for C3) lower density (spindles ∙ min(-1) ) for RBD (mean ± SD: 1.61 ± 0.56 for C3) than for control (2.19 ± 0.61 for C3) participants. However, when distinguishing slow and fast spindles using thresholds individually adapted to the electroencephalogram spectrum of each participant, densities smaller (31-96%) for fast but larger (20-120%) for slow spindles were observed in RBD in all derivations. Maximal differences were in more posterior regions for slow spindles, but over the entire scalp for fast spindles. Results suggest that the density of sleep spindles is altered in patients with RBD and should therefore be investigated as a potential marker of future neurodegeneration in these patients. © 2015 European Sleep Research Society.

Role of slow oscillatory activity and slow wave sleep in consolidation of episodic-like memory in rats.

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Oyanedel, Carlos N; Binder, Sonja; Kelemen, Eduard; Petersen, Kimberley; Born, Jan; Inostroza, Marion

2014-12-15

Our previous experiments showed that sleep in rats enhances consolidation of hippocampus dependent episodic-like memory, i.e. the ability to remember an event bound into specific spatio-temporal context. Here we tested the hypothesis that this enhancing effect of sleep is linked to the occurrence of slow oscillatory and spindle activity during slow wave sleep (SWS). Rats were tested on an episodic-like memory task and on three additional tasks covering separately the where (object place recognition), when (temporal memory), and what (novel object recognition) components of episodic memory. In each task, the sample phase (encoding) was followed by an 80-min retention interval that covered either a period of regular morning sleep or sleep deprivation. Memory during retrieval was tested using preferential exploration of novelty vs. familiarity. Consistent with previous findings, the rats which had slept during the retention interval showed significantly stronger episodic-like memory and spatial memory, and a trend of improved temporal memory (although not significant). Object recognition memory was similarly retained across sleep and sleep deprivation retention intervals. Recall of episodic-like memory was associated with increased slow oscillatory activity (0.85-2.0Hz) during SWS in the retention interval. Spatial memory was associated with increased proportions of SWS. Against our hypothesis, a relationship between spindle activity and episodic-like memory performance was not detected, but spindle activity was associated with object recognition memory. The results provide support for the role of SWS and slow oscillatory activity in consolidating hippocampus-dependent memory, the role of spindles in this process needs to be further examined. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

EEG slow-wave coherence changes in propofol-induced general anesthesia: Experiment and theory

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Kaier eWang

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The electroencephalogram (EEG patterns recorded during general anesthetic-induced coma are closely similar to those seen during slow-wave sleep, the deepest stage of natural sleep; both states show patterns dominated by large amplitude slow waves. Slow oscillations are believed to be important for memory consolidation during natural sleep. Tracking the emergence of slow-wave oscillations during transition to unconsciousness may help us to identify drug-induced alterations of the underlying brain state, and provide insight into the mechanisms of general anesthesia. Although cellular-based mechanisms have been proposed, the origin of the slow oscillation has not yet been unambiguously established. A recent theoretical study by Steyn-Ross et al. [Physical Review X 3(2, 021005 (2013] proposes that the slow oscillation is a network, rather than cellular phenomenon. Modeling anesthesia as a moderate reduction in gap-junction interneuronal coupling, they predict an unconscious state signposted by emergent low-frequency oscillations with chaotic dynamics in space and time. They suggest that anesthetic slow-waves arise from a competitive interaction between symmetry-breaking instabilities in space (Turing and time (Hopf, modulated by gap-junction coupling strength. A significant prediction of their model is that EEG phase coherence will decrease as the cortex transits from Turing--Hopf balance (wake to Hopf-dominated chaotic slow-waves (unconsciousness. Here, we investigate changes in phase coherence during induction of general anesthesia. After examining 128-channel EEG traces recorded from five volunteers undergoing propofol anesthesia, we report a significant drop in sub-delta band (0.05--1.5 Hz slow-wave coherence between frontal, occipital, and frontal-occipital electrode pairs, with the most pronounced wake-versus-unconscious coherence changes occurring at the frontal cortex.

Coupling of Thalamocortical Sleep Oscillations Are Important for Memory Consolidation in Humans.

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Mohammad Niknazar

Full Text Available Sleep, specifically non-rapid eye movement (NREM sleep, is thought to play a critical role in the consolidation of recent memories. Two main oscillatory activities observed during NREM, cortical slow oscillations (SO, 0.5-1.0 Hz and thalamic spindles (12-15 Hz, have been shown to independently correlate with memory improvement. Yet, it is not known how these thalamocortical events interact, or the significance of this interaction, during the consolidation process. Here, we found that systemic administration of the GABAergic drug (zolpidem increased both the phase-amplitude coupling between SO and spindles, and verbal memory improvement in humans. These results suggest that thalamic spindles that occur during transitions to the cortical SO Up state are optimal for memory consolidation. Our study predicts that the timely interactions between cortical and thalamic events during consolidation, contribute to memory improvement and is mediated by the level of inhibitory neurotransmission.

Automatic detection of slow-wave sleep and REM-sleep stages using polysomnographic ECG signals

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Khemiri, S.; Aloui, K.; Naceur, M. S.

2011-01-01

We describe in this paper a new approach of classifying the different sleep stages only by focusing on the polysomnographic ECG signals. We show the pre-processing technique of the ECG signals. At the same time the identifcation and elimination of the different types of artifacts which contain the signal and its reconstruction are shown. The automatic classification of the slow-deep sleep and the rapid eye movement sleep called in this work REM-sleep consists in extracting physiological indicators that characterize these two sleep stages through the polysomnographic ECG signal. In other words, this classification is based on the analysis of the cardiac rhythm during a night's sleep.

Interacting Turing-Hopf Instabilities Drive Symmetry-Breaking Transitions in a Mean-Field Model of the Cortex: A Mechanism for the Slow Oscillation

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Moira L. Steyn-Ross

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Electrical recordings of brain activity during the transition from wake to anesthetic coma show temporal and spectral alterations that are correlated with gross changes in the underlying brain state. Entry into anesthetic unconsciousness is signposted by the emergence of large, slow oscillations of electrical activity (≲1  Hz similar to the slow waves observed in natural sleep. Here we present a two-dimensional mean-field model of the cortex in which slow spatiotemporal oscillations arise spontaneously through a Turing (spatial symmetry-breaking bifurcation that is modulated by a Hopf (temporal instability. In our model, populations of neurons are densely interlinked by chemical synapses, and by interneuronal gap junctions represented as an inhibitory diffusive coupling. To demonstrate cortical behavior over a wide range of distinct brain states, we explore model dynamics in the vicinity of a general-anesthetic-induced transition from “wake” to “coma.” In this region, the system is poised at a codimension-2 point where competing Turing and Hopf instabilities coexist. We model anesthesia as a moderate reduction in inhibitory diffusion, paired with an increase in inhibitory postsynaptic response, producing a coma state that is characterized by emergent low-frequency oscillations whose dynamics is chaotic in time and space. The effect of long-range axonal white-matter connectivity is probed with the inclusion of a single idealized point-to-point connection. We find that the additional excitation from the long-range connection can provoke seizurelike bursts of cortical activity when inhibitory diffusion is weak, but has little impact on an active cortex. Our proposed dynamic mechanism for the origin of anesthetic slow waves complements—and contrasts with—conventional explanations that require cyclic modulation of ion-channel conductances. We postulate that a similar bifurcation mechanism might underpin the slow waves of natural

Remission of encephalopathy with status epilepticus (ESES) during sleep renormalizes regulation of slow wave sleep

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Bölsterli, Bigna K.; Gardella, Elena; Pavlidis, Elena

2017-01-01

Objective: In previous studies, we showed an altered overnight decrease of non–rapid-eye-movement (NREM) sleep slow waves in children with encephalopathy related to status epilepticus during sleep (ESES). Here, we test the hypothesis that these alterations renormalize after remission of ESES...

Slow Activity in Focal Epilepsy During Sleep and Wakefulness

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Pellegrino, Giovanni; Tombini, Mario; Curcio, Giuseppe

2017-01-01

Introduction We aimed to test differences between healthy subjects and patients with respect to slow wave activity during wakefulness and sleep. Methods Fifteen patients affected by nonlesional focal epilepsy originating within temporal areas and fourteen matched controls underwent a 24-hour EEG....... The effect was widespread for alpha band and above, while localized over the affected hemisphere for delta (sleep cycle 1, P = .006; sleep cycle 2, P = .008; sleep cycle 3, P = .017). The analysis of interhemispheric differences showed that the only frequency band stronger over the affected regions...

Different Effects of Sleep Deprivation and Torpor on EEG Slow-Wave Characteristics in Djungarian Hamsters.

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Vyazovskiy, V V; Palchykova, S; Achermann, P; Tobler, I; Deboer, T

2017-02-01

It has been shown previously in Djungarian hamsters that the initial electroencephalography (EEG) slow-wave activity (power in the 0.5-4.0 Hz band; SWA) in non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep following an episode of daily torpor is consistently enhanced, similar to the SWA increase after sleep deprivation (SD). However, it is unknown whether the network mechanisms underlying the SWA increase after torpor and SD are similar. EEG slow waves recorded in the neocortex during sleep reflect synchronized transitions between periods of activity and silence among large neuronal populations. We therefore set out to investigate characteristics of individual cortical EEG slow waves recorded during NREM sleep after 4 h SD and during sleep after emergence from an episode of daily torpor in adult male Djungarian hamsters. We found that during the first hour after both SD and torpor, the SWA increase was associated with an increase in slow-wave incidence and amplitude. However, the slopes of single slow waves during NREM sleep were steeper in the first hour after SD but not after torpor, and, in contrast to sleep after SD, the magnitude of change in slopes after torpor was unrelated to the changes in SWA. Furthermore, slow-wave slopes decreased progressively within the first 2 h after SD, while a progressive increase in slow-wave slopes was apparent during the first 2 h after torpor. The data suggest that prolonged waking and torpor have different effects on cortical network activity underlying slow-wave characteristics, while resulting in a similar homeostatic sleep response of SWA. We suggest that sleep plays an important role in network homeostasis after both waking and torpor, consistent with a recovery function for both states. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

The effect of dim light at night on cerebral hemodynamic oscillations during sleep: A near-infrared spectroscopy study.

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Kim, Tae-Joon; Lee, Byeong Uk; Sunwoo, Jun-Sang; Byun, Jung-Ick; Moon, Jangsup; Lee, Soon-Tae; Jung, Keun-Hwa; Chu, Kon; Kim, Manho; Lim, Jong-Min; Lee, Eunil; Lee, Sang Kun; Jung, Ki-Young

2017-01-01

Recent studies have reported that dim light at night (dLAN) is associated with risks of cardiovascular complications, such as hypertension and carotid atherosclerosis; however, little is known about the underlying mechanism. Here, we evaluated the effect of dLAN on the cerebrovascular system by analyzing cerebral hemodynamic oscillations using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Fourteen healthy male subjects underwent polysomnography coupled with cerebral NIRS. The data collected during sleep with dim light (10 lux) were compared with those collected during sleep under the control dark conditions for the sleep structure, cerebral hemodynamic oscillations, heart rate variability (HRV), and their electroencephalographic (EEG) power spectrum. Power spectral analysis was applied to oxy-hemoglobin concentrations calculated from the NIRS signal. Spectral densities over endothelial very-low-frequency oscillations (VLFOs) (0.003-0.02 Hz), neurogenic VLFOs (0.02-0.04 Hz), myogenic low-frequency oscillations (LFOs) (0.04-0.15 Hz), and total LFOs (0.003-0.15 Hz) were obtained for each sleep stage. The polysomnographic data revealed an increase in the N2 stage under the dLAN conditions. The spectral analysis of cerebral hemodynamics showed that the total LFOs increased significantly during slow-wave sleep (SWS) and decreased during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Specifically, endothelial (median of normalized value, 0.46 vs. 0.72, p = 0.019) and neurogenic (median, 0.58 vs. 0.84, p = 0.019) VLFOs were enhanced during SWS, whereas endothelial VLFOs (median, 1.93 vs. 1.47, p = 0.030) were attenuated during REM sleep. HRV analysis exhibited altered spectral densities during SWS induced by dLAN, including an increase in very-low-frequency and decreases in low-frequency and high-frequency ranges. In the EEG power spectral analysis, no significant difference was detected between the control and dLAN conditions. In conclusion, dLAN can disturb cerebral hemodynamics via the

Theta-rhythmic drive between medial septum and hippocampus in slow-wave sleep and microarousal: a Granger causality analysis.

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Kang, D; Ding, M; Topchiy, I; Shifflett, L; Kocsis, B

2015-11-01

Medial septum (MS) plays a critical role in controlling the electrical activity of the hippocampus (HIPP). In particular, theta-rhythmic burst firing of MS neurons is thought to drive lasting HIPP theta oscillations in rats during waking motor activity and REM sleep. Less is known about MS-HIPP interactions in nontheta states such as non-REM sleep, in which HIPP theta oscillations are absent but theta-rhythmic burst firing in subsets of MS neurons is preserved. The present study used Granger causality (GC) to examine the interaction patterns between MS and HIPP in slow-wave sleep (SWS, a nontheta state) and during its short interruptions called microarousals (a transient theta state). We found that during SWS, while GC revealed a unidirectional MS→HIPP influence over a wide frequency band (2-12 Hz, maximum: ∼8 Hz), there was no theta peak in the hippocampal power spectra, indicating a lack of theta activity in HIPP. In contrast, during microarousals, theta peaks were seen in both MS and HIPP power spectra and were accompanied by bidirectional GC with MS→HIPP and HIPP→MS theta drives being of equal magnitude. Thus GC in a nontheta state (SWS) vs. a theta state (microarousal) primarily differed in the level of HIPP→MS. The present findings suggest a modification of our understanding of the role of MS as the theta generator in two regards. First, a MS→HIPP theta drive does not necessarily induce theta field oscillations in the hippocampus, as found in SWS. Second, HIPP theta oscillations entail bidirectional theta-rhythmic interactions between MS and HIPP. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

Nap sleep spindle correlates of intelligence.

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Ujma, Péter P; Bódizs, Róbert; Gombos, Ferenc; Stintzing, Johannes; Konrad, Boris N; Genzel, Lisa; Steiger, Axel; Dresler, Martin

2015-11-26

Sleep spindles are thalamocortical oscillations in non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, that play an important role in sleep-related neuroplasticity and offline information processing. Several studies with full-night sleep recordings have reported a positive association between sleep spindles and fluid intelligence scores, however more recently it has been shown that only few sleep spindle measures correlate with intelligence in females, and none in males. Sleep spindle regulation underlies a circadian rhythm, however the association between spindles and intelligence has not been investigated in daytime nap sleep so far. In a sample of 86 healthy male human subjects, we investigated the correlation between fluid intelligence and sleep spindle parameters in an afternoon nap of 100 minutes. Mean sleep spindle length, amplitude and density were computed for each subject and for each derivation for both slow and fast spindles. A positive association was found between intelligence and slow spindle duration, but not any other sleep spindle parameter. As a positive correlation between intelligence and slow sleep spindle duration in full-night polysomnography has only been reported in females but not males, our results suggest that the association between intelligence and sleep spindles is more complex than previously assumed.

Slow sleep spindle and procedural memory consolidation in patients with major depressive disorder

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Nishida M

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Masaki Nishida,1 Yusaku Nakashima,2 Toru Nishikawa11Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Yushima, Bunkyo, 2Medical Technology Research Laboratory, Research and Development Division, Medical Business Unit, Sony Corporation, Tokyo, JapanIntroduction: Evidence has accumulated, which indicates that, in healthy individuals, sleep enhances procedural memory consolidation, and that sleep spindle activity modulates this process. However, whether sleep-dependent procedural memory consolidation occurs in patients medicated for major depressive disorder remains unclear, as are the pharmacological and physiological mechanisms that underlie this process.Methods: Healthy control participants (n=17 and patients medicated for major depressive disorder (n=11 were recruited and subjected to a finger-tapping motor sequence test (MST; nondominant hand paradigm to compare the averaged scores of different learning phases (presleep, postsleep, and overnight improvement. Participants' brain activity was recorded during sleep with 16 electroencephalography channels (between MSTs. Sleep scoring and frequency analyses were performed on the electroencephalography data. Additionally, we evaluated sleep spindle activity, which divided the spindles into fast-frequency spindle activity (12.5–16 Hz and slow-frequency spindle activity (10.5–12.5 Hz.Result: Sleep-dependent motor memory consolidation in patients with depression was impaired in comparison with that in control participants. In patients with depression, age correlated negatively with overnight improvement. The duration of slow-wave sleep correlated with the magnitude of motor memory consolidation in patients with depression, but not in healthy controls. Slow-frequency spindle activity was associated with reduction in the magnitude of motor memory consolidation in both groups.Conclusion: Because the changes in slow

Neuronal Oscillations Indicate Sleep-dependent Changes in the Cortical Memory Trace.

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Köster, Moritz; Finger, Holger; Kater, Maren-Jo; Schenk, Christoph; Gruber, Thomas

2017-04-01

Sleep promotes the consolidation of newly acquired associative memories. Here we used neuronal oscillations in the human EEG to investigate sleep-dependent changes in the cortical memory trace. The retrieval activity for object-color associations was assessed immediately after encoding and after 3 hr of sleep or wakefulness. Sleep had beneficial effects on memory performance and led to reduced event-related theta and gamma power during the retrieval of associative memories. Furthermore, event-related alpha suppression was attenuated in the wake group for memorized and novel stimuli. There were no sleep-dependent changes in retrieval activity for missed items or items retrieved without color. Thus, the sleep-dependent reduction in theta and gamma oscillations was specific for the retrieval of associative memories. In line with theoretical accounts on sleep-dependent memory consolidation, decreased theta may indicate reduced mediotemporal activity because of a transfer of information into neocortical networks during sleep, whereas reduced parietal gamma may reflect effects of synaptic downscaling. Changes in alpha suppression in the wake group possibly index reduced attentional resources that may also contribute to a lower memory performance in this group. These findings indicate that the consolidation of associative memories during sleep is associated with profound changes in the cortical memory trace and relies on multiple neuronal processes working in concert.

Functional ADA polymorphism increases sleep depth and reduces vigilant attention in humans.

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Bachmann, Valérie; Klaus, Federica; Bodenmann, Sereina; Schäfer, Nikolaus; Brugger, Peter; Huber, Susanne; Berger, Wolfgang; Landolt, Hans-Peter

2012-04-01

Homeostatically regulated slow-wave oscillations in non-rapid eye movement (REM) sleep may reflect synaptic changes across the sleep-wake continuum and the restorative function of sleep. The nonsynonymous c.22G>A polymorphism (rs73598374) of adenosine deaminase (ADA) reduces the conversion of adenosine to inosine and predicts baseline differences in sleep slow-wave oscillations. We hypothesized that this polymorphism affects cognitive functions, and investigated whether it modulates electroencephalogram (EEG), behavioral, subjective, and biochemical responses to sleep deprivation. Attention, learning, memory, and executive functioning were quantified in healthy adults. Right-handed carriers of the variant allele (G/A genotype, n = 29) performed worse on the d2 attention task than G/G homozygotes (n = 191). To test whether this difference reflects elevated homeostatic sleep pressure, sleep and sleep EEG before and after sleep deprivation were studied in 2 prospectively matched groups of G/A and G/G genotype subjects. Deep sleep and EEG 0.75- to 1.5-Hz oscillations in non-REM sleep were significantly higher in G/A than in G/G genotype. Moreover, attention and vigor were reduced, whereas waking EEG alpha activity (8.5-12 Hz), sleepiness, fatigue, and α-amylase in saliva were enhanced. These convergent data demonstrate that genetic reduction of ADA activity elevates sleep pressure and plays a key role in sleep and waking quality in humans.

Fractional dynamics of globally slow transcription and its impact on deterministic genetic oscillation.

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Kun Wei

Full Text Available In dynamical systems theory, a system which can be described by differential equations is called a continuous dynamical system. In studies on genetic oscillation, most deterministic models at early stage are usually built on ordinary differential equations (ODE. Therefore, gene transcription which is a vital part in genetic oscillation is presupposed to be a continuous dynamical system by default. However, recent studies argued that discontinuous transcription might be more common than continuous transcription. In this paper, by appending the inserted silent interval lying between two neighboring transcriptional events to the end of the preceding event, we established that the running time for an intact transcriptional event increases and gene transcription thus shows slow dynamics. By globally replacing the original time increment for each state increment by a larger one, we introduced fractional differential equations (FDE to describe such globally slow transcription. The impact of fractionization on genetic oscillation was then studied in two early stage models--the Goodwin oscillator and the Rössler oscillator. By constructing a "dual memory" oscillator--the fractional delay Goodwin oscillator, we suggested that four general requirements for generating genetic oscillation should be revised to be negative feedback, sufficient nonlinearity, sufficient memory and proper balancing of timescale. The numerical study of the fractional Rössler oscillator implied that the globally slow transcription tends to lower the chance of a coupled or more complex nonlinear genetic oscillatory system behaving chaotically.

Fractional dynamics of globally slow transcription and its impact on deterministic genetic oscillation.

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Wei, Kun; Gao, Shilong; Zhong, Suchuan; Ma, Hong

2012-01-01

In dynamical systems theory, a system which can be described by differential equations is called a continuous dynamical system. In studies on genetic oscillation, most deterministic models at early stage are usually built on ordinary differential equations (ODE). Therefore, gene transcription which is a vital part in genetic oscillation is presupposed to be a continuous dynamical system by default. However, recent studies argued that discontinuous transcription might be more common than continuous transcription. In this paper, by appending the inserted silent interval lying between two neighboring transcriptional events to the end of the preceding event, we established that the running time for an intact transcriptional event increases and gene transcription thus shows slow dynamics. By globally replacing the original time increment for each state increment by a larger one, we introduced fractional differential equations (FDE) to describe such globally slow transcription. The impact of fractionization on genetic oscillation was then studied in two early stage models--the Goodwin oscillator and the Rössler oscillator. By constructing a "dual memory" oscillator--the fractional delay Goodwin oscillator, we suggested that four general requirements for generating genetic oscillation should be revised to be negative feedback, sufficient nonlinearity, sufficient memory and proper balancing of timescale. The numerical study of the fractional Rössler oscillator implied that the globally slow transcription tends to lower the chance of a coupled or more complex nonlinear genetic oscillatory system behaving chaotically.

Hippocampal memory consolidation during sleep: a comparison of mammals and birds.

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Rattenborg, Niels C; Martinez-Gonzalez, Dolores; Roth, Timothy C; Pravosudov, Vladimir V

2011-08-01

The transition from wakefulness to sleep is marked by pronounced changes in brain activity. The brain rhythms that characterize the two main types of mammalian sleep, slow-wave sleep (SWS) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, are thought to be involved in the functions of sleep. In particular, recent theories suggest that the synchronous slow-oscillation of neocortical neuronal membrane potentials, the defining feature of SWS, is involved in processing information acquired during wakefulness. According to the Standard Model of memory consolidation, during wakefulness the hippocampus receives input from neocortical regions involved in the initial encoding of an experience and binds this information into a coherent memory trace that is then transferred to the neocortex during SWS where it is stored and integrated within preexisting memory traces. Evidence suggests that this process selectively involves direct connections from the hippocampus to the prefrontal cortex (PFC), a multimodal, high-order association region implicated in coordinating the storage and recall of remote memories in the neocortex. The slow-oscillation is thought to orchestrate the transfer of information from the hippocampus by temporally coupling hippocampal sharp-wave/ripples (SWRs) and thalamocortical spindles. SWRs are synchronous bursts of hippocampal activity, during which waking neuronal firing patterns are reactivated in the hippocampus and neocortex in a coordinated manner. Thalamocortical spindles are brief 7-14 Hz oscillations that may facilitate the encoding of information reactivated during SWRs. By temporally coupling the readout of information from the hippocampus with conditions conducive to encoding in the neocortex, the slow-oscillation is thought to mediate the transfer of information from the hippocampus to the neocortex. Although several lines of evidence are consistent with this function for mammalian SWS, it is unclear whether SWS serves a similar function in birds, the only

Differing Patterns of Altered Slow-5 Oscillations in Healthy Aging and Ischemic Stroke.

Science.gov (United States)

La, Christian; Mossahebi, Pouria; Nair, Veena A; Young, Brittany M; Stamm, Julie; Birn, Rasmus; Meyerand, Mary E; Prabhakaran, Vivek

2016-01-01

The 'default-mode' network (DMN) has been investigated in the presence of various disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease and Autism spectrum disorders. More recently, this investigation has expanded to include patients with ischemic injury. Here, we characterized the effects of ischemic injury in terms of its spectral distribution of resting-state low-frequency oscillations and further investigated whether those specific disruptions were unique to the DMN, or rather more general, affecting the global cortical system. With 43 young healthy adults, 42 older healthy adults, 14 stroke patients in their early stage (system disruption may differ between healthy aging and following the event of an ischemic stroke. The stroke group in the later stage demonstrated a global reduction in the amplitude of the slow-5 oscillations (0.01-0.027 Hz) in the DMN as well as in the primary visual and sensorimotor networks, two 'task-positive' networks. In comparison to the young healthy group, the older healthy subjects presented a decrease in the amplitude of the slow-5 oscillations specific to the components of the DMN, while exhibiting an increase in oscillation power in the task-positive networks. These two processes of a decrease DMN and an increase in 'task-positive' slow-5 oscillations may potentially be related, with a deficit in DMN inhibition, leading to an elevation of oscillations in non-DMN systems. These findings also suggest that disruptions of the slow-5 oscillations in healthy aging may be more specific to the DMN while the disruptions of those oscillations following a stroke through remote (diaschisis) effects may be more widespread, highlighting a non-specificity of disruption on the DMN in stroke population. The mechanisms underlying those differing modes of network disruption need to be further explored to better inform our understanding of brain function in healthy individuals and following injury.

Fiber and Saturated Fat Are Associated with Sleep Arousals and Slow Wave Sleep.

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St-Onge, Marie-Pierre; Roberts, Amy; Shechter, Ari; Choudhury, Arindam Roy

2016-01-01

Sleep restriction alters food intake, but less is known about how dietary patterns affect sleep. Current goals were to determine whether: (1) sleep is different after consumption of a controlled diet vs. an ad libitum diet, and (2) dietary intake during ad libitum feeding is related to nocturnal sleep. Twenty-six normal weight adults (30-45 y), habitually sleeping 7-9 h/night, participated in a randomized-crossover inpatient study with 2 phases of 5 nights: short (4 h in bed) or habitual (9 h in bed) sleep. Only data from the habitual sleep phase were used for the present analyses. During the first 4 days, participants consumed a controlled diet; on day 5, food intake was self-selected. Linear regression was used to determine relations between daytime food intake and nighttime sleep on day 5. Sleep duration did not differ after 3 days of controlled feeding vs. a day of ad libitum intake. However, sleep after ad libitum eating had less slow wave sleep (SWS, P = 0.0430) and longer onset latency (P = 0.0085). Greater fiber intake predicted less stage 1 (P = 0.0198) and more SWS (P = 0.0286). Percent of energy from saturated fat predicted less SWS (P = 0.0422). Higher percent of energy from sugar and other carbohydrates not considered sugar or fiber was associated with arousals (P = 0.0320 and 0.0481, respectively). Low fiber and high saturated fat and sugar intake is associated with lighter, less restorative sleep with more arousals. Diet could be useful in the management of sleep disorders but this needs to be tested. http://www.clinicaltrials.gov, #NCT00935402. © 2016 American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

The up and down of sleep: From molecules to electrophysiology.

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Navarro-Lobato, Irene; Genzel, Lisa

2018-03-12

Alternations of up and down can be seen across many different levels during sleep. Neural firing-rates, synaptic markers, molecular pathways, and gene expression all show differential up and down regulation across brain areas and sleep stages. And also the hallmarks of sleep - sleep stage specific oscillations - are characterized themselves by up and down as seen within the slow oscillation or theta cycles. In this review, we summarize the up and down of sleep covering molecules to electrophysiology and present different theories how this up and down could be regulated by the up and down of sleep oscillations. Further, we propose a tentative theory how this differential up and down could contribute to various outcomes of sleep related memory consolidation: enhancement of hippocampal representations of very novel memories and cortical consolidation of memories congruent with previous knowledge-networks. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Recovery of slow-5 oscillations in a longitudinal study of ischemic stroke patients.

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La, C; Nair, V A; Mossahebi, P; Stamm, J; Birn, R; Meyerand, M E; Prabhakaran, V

2016-01-01

Functional networks in resting-state fMRI are identified by characteristics of their intrinsic low-frequency oscillations, more specifically in terms of their synchronicity. With advanced aging and in clinical populations, this synchronicity among functionally linked regions is known to decrease and become disrupted, which may be associated with observed cognitive and behavioral changes. Previous work from our group has revealed that oscillations within the slow-5 frequency range (0.01-0.027 Hz) are particularly susceptible to disruptions in aging and following a stroke. In this study, we characterized longitudinally the changes in the slow-5 oscillations in stroke patients across two different time-points. We followed a group of ischemic stroke patients (n = 20) and another group of healthy older adults (n = 14) over two visits separated by a minimum of three months (average of 9 months). For the stroke patients, one visit occurred in their subacute window (10 days to 6 months after stroke onset), the other took place in their chronic window (> 6 months after stroke). Using a mid-order group ICA method on 10-minutes eyes-closed resting-state fMRI data, we assessed the frequency distributions of a component's representative time-courses for differences in regards to slow-5 spectral power. First, our stroke patients, in their subacute stage, exhibited lower amplitude slow-5 oscillations in comparison to their healthy counterparts. Second, over time in their chronic stage, those same patients showed a recovery of those oscillations, reaching near equivalence to the healthy older adult group. Our results indicate the possibility of an eventual recovery of those initially disrupted network oscillations to a near-normal level, providing potentially a biomarker for stroke recovery of the cortical system. This finding opens new avenues in infra-slow oscillation research and could serve as a useful biomarker in future treatments aimed at recovery.

Recovery of slow-5 oscillations in a longitudinal study of ischemic stroke patients

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C. La

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Functional networks in resting-state fMRI are identified by characteristics of their intrinsic low-frequency oscillations, more specifically in terms of their synchronicity. With advanced aging and in clinical populations, this synchronicity among functionally linked regions is known to decrease and become disrupted, which may be associated with observed cognitive and behavioral changes. Previous work from our group has revealed that oscillations within the slow-5 frequency range (0.01–0.027 Hz are particularly susceptible to disruptions in aging and following a stroke. In this study, we characterized longitudinally the changes in the slow-5 oscillations in stroke patients across two different time-points. We followed a group of ischemic stroke patients (n = 20 and another group of healthy older adults (n = 14 over two visits separated by a minimum of three months (average of 9 months. For the stroke patients, one visit occurred in their subacute window (10 days to 6 months after stroke onset, the other took place in their chronic window (>6 months after stroke. Using a mid-order group ICA method on 10-minutes eyes-closed resting-state fMRI data, we assessed the frequency distributions of a component's representative time-courses for differences in regards to slow-5 spectral power. First, our stroke patients, in their subacute stage, exhibited lower amplitude slow-5 oscillations in comparison to their healthy counterparts. Second, over time in their chronic stage, those same patients showed a recovery of those oscillations, reaching near equivalence to the healthy older adult group. Our results indicate the possibility of an eventual recovery of those initially disrupted network oscillations to a near-normal level, providing potentially a biomarker for stroke recovery of the cortical system. This finding opens new avenues in infra-slow oscillation research and could serve as a useful biomarker in future treatments aimed at recovery.

Mechanisms of Memory Retrieval in Slow-Wave Sleep.

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Cairney, Scott A; Sobczak, Justyna M; Lindsay, Shane; Gaskell, M Gareth

2017-09-01

Memories are strengthened during sleep. The benefits of sleep for memory can be enhanced by re-exposing the sleeping brain to auditory cues; a technique known as targeted memory reactivation (TMR). Prior studies have not assessed the nature of the retrieval mechanisms underpinning TMR: the matching process between auditory stimuli encountered during sleep and previously encoded memories. We carried out two experiments to address this issue. In Experiment 1, participants associated words with verbal and nonverbal auditory stimuli before an overnight interval in which subsets of these stimuli were replayed in slow-wave sleep. We repeated this paradigm in Experiment 2 with the single difference that the gender of the verbal auditory stimuli was switched between learning and sleep. In Experiment 1, forgetting of cued (vs. noncued) associations was reduced by TMR with verbal and nonverbal cues to similar extents. In Experiment 2, TMR with identical nonverbal cues reduced forgetting of cued (vs. noncued) associations, replicating Experiment 1. However, TMR with nonidentical verbal cues reduced forgetting of both cued and noncued associations. These experiments suggest that the memory effects of TMR are influenced by the acoustic overlap between stimuli delivered at training and sleep. Our findings hint at the existence of two processing routes for memory retrieval during sleep. Whereas TMR with acoustically identical cues may reactivate individual associations via simple episodic matching, TMR with nonidentical verbal cues may utilize linguistic decoding mechanisms, resulting in widespread reactivation across a broad category of memories. © Sleep Research Society 2017. Published by Oxford University Press [on behalf of the Sleep Research Society].

Automatic Sleep Spindle Detection and Genetic Influence Estimation Using Continuous Wavelet Transform

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Adamczyk, M.; Genzel, L.K.E.; Dresler, M.; Steiger, A.; Friess, E.

2015-01-01

Mounting evidence for the role of sleep spindles in neuroplasticity has led to an increased interest in these non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep oscillations. It has been hypothesized that fast and slow spindles might play a different role in memory processing. Here, we present a new sleep spindle

Neuronal Networks in Children with Continuous Spikes and Waves during Slow Sleep

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Siniatchkin, Michael; Groening, Kristina; Moehring, Jan; Moeller, Friederike; Boor, Rainer; Brodbeck, Verena; Michel, Christoph M.; Rodionov, Roman; Lemieux, Louis; Stephani, Ulrich

2010-01-01

Epileptic encephalopathy with continuous spikes and waves during slow sleep is an age-related disorder characterized by the presence of interictal epileptiform discharges during at least greater than 85% of sleep and cognitive deficits associated with this electroencephalography pattern. The pathophysiological mechanisms of continuous spikes and…

Slow wave and REM sleep deprivation effects on explicit and implicit memory during sleep.

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Casey, Sarah J; Solomons, Luke C; Steier, Joerg; Kabra, Neeraj; Burnside, Anna; Pengo, Martino F; Moxham, John; Goldstein, Laura H; Kopelman, Michael D

2016-11-01

It has been debated whether different stages in the human sleep cycle preferentially mediate the consolidation of explicit and implicit memories, or whether all of the stages in succession are necessary for optimal consolidation. Here we investigated whether the selective deprivation of slow wave sleep (SWS) or rapid eye movement (REM) sleep over an entire night would have a specific effect on consolidation in explicit and implicit memory tasks. Participants completed a set of explicit and implicit memory tasks at night, prior to sleep. They had 1 control night of undisturbed sleep and 2 experimental nights, during which either SWS or REM sleep was selectively deprived across the entire night (sleep conditions counterbalanced across participants). Polysomnography recordings quantified precisely the amount of SWS and REM sleep that occurred during each of the sleep conditions, and spindle counts were recorded. In the morning, participants completed the experimental tasks in the same sequence as the night before. SWS deprivation disrupted the consolidation of explicit memories for visuospatial information (ηp2 = .23), and both SWS (ηp2 = .53) and REM sleep (ηp2 = .52) deprivation adversely affected explicit verbal recall. Neither SWS nor REM sleep deprivation affected aspects of short-term or working memory, and did not affect measures of verbal implicit memory. Spindle counts did not correlate significantly with memory performance. These findings demonstrate the importance of measuring the sleep cycles throughout the entire night, and the contribution of both SWS and REM sleep to memory consolidation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Cortical networks dynamically emerge with the interplay of slow and fast oscillations for memory of a natural scene.

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Mizuhara, Hiroaki; Sato, Naoyuki; Yamaguchi, Yoko

2015-05-01

Neural oscillations are crucial for revealing dynamic cortical networks and for serving as a possible mechanism of inter-cortical communication, especially in association with mnemonic function. The interplay of the slow and fast oscillations might dynamically coordinate the mnemonic cortical circuits to rehearse stored items during working memory retention. We recorded simultaneous EEG-fMRI during a working memory task involving a natural scene to verify whether the cortical networks emerge with the neural oscillations for memory of the natural scene. The slow EEG power was enhanced in association with the better accuracy of working memory retention, and accompanied cortical activities in the mnemonic circuits for the natural scene. Fast oscillation showed a phase-amplitude coupling to the slow oscillation, and its power was tightly coupled with the cortical activities for representing the visual images of natural scenes. The mnemonic cortical circuit with the slow neural oscillations would rehearse the distributed natural scene representations with the fast oscillation for working memory retention. The coincidence of the natural scene representations could be obtained by the slow oscillation phase to create a coherent whole of the natural scene in the working memory. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Differing Patterns of Altered Slow-5 Oscillations in Healthy Aging and Ischemic Stroke

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christian eLa

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The ‘default-mode’ network (DMN has been investigated in the presence of various disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Autism spectrum disorders. More recently, this investigation has expanded to include patients with ischemic injury. Here, we characterized the effects of ischemic injury in terms of its spectral distribution of resting-state low-frequency oscillations and further investigated whether those specific disruptions were unique to the DMN, or rather more general, affecting the global cortical system. With 43 young healthy adults, 42 older healthy adults, 14 stroke patients in their early stage (< 7 days after stroke onset, and 16 stroke patients in their later stage (between 1-6 months after stroke onset, this study showed that patterns of cortical system disruption may differ between healthy aging and following the event of an ischemic stroke. The stroke group in the later stage demonstrated a global reduction in the amplitude of the slow-5 oscillations (0.01-0.027 Hz in the DMN as well as in the primary visual and sensorimotor networks, two ‘task-positive’ networks. In comparison to the young healthy group, the older healthy subjects presented a decrease in the amplitude of the slow-5 oscillations specific to the components of the DMN, while exhibiting an increase in oscillation power in the task-positive networks. These two processes of a decrease DMN and an increase in ‘task-positive’ slow-5 oscillations may potentially be related, with a deficit in DMN inhibition, leading to an elevation of oscillations in non-DMN systems. These findings also suggest that disruptions of the slow-5 oscillations in healthy aging may be more specific to the DMN while the disruptions of those oscillations following a stroke through remote (diaschisis effects may be more widespread, highlighting a non-specificity of disruption on the DMN in stroke population. The mechanisms underlying those differing modes of network disruption need

Thalamocortical Oscillations in the Sleeping and Aroused Brain

Science.gov (United States)

Steriade, Mircea; McCormick, David A.; Sejnowski, Terrence J.

1993-10-01

Sleep is characterized by synchronized events in billions of synaptically coupled neurons in thalamocortical systems. The activation of a series of neuromodulatory transmitter systems during awakening blocks low-frequency oscillations, induces fast rhythms, and allows the brain to recover full responsiveness. Analysis of cortical and thalamic networks at many levels, from molecules to single neurons to large neuronal assemblies, with a variety of techniques, ranging from intracellular recordings in vivo and in vitro to computer simulations, is beginning to yield insights into the mechanisms of the generation, modulation, and function of brain oscillations.

Mechanisms of Memory Retrieval in Slow-Wave Sleep

Science.gov (United States)

Cairney, Scott A; Sobczak, Justyna M; Lindsay, Shane

2017-01-01

Abstract Study Objectives Memories are strengthened during sleep. The benefits of sleep for memory can be enhanced by re-exposing the sleeping brain to auditory cues; a technique known as targeted memory reactivation (TMR). Prior studies have not assessed the nature of the retrieval mechanisms underpinning TMR: the matching process between auditory stimuli encountered during sleep and previously encoded memories. We carried out two experiments to address this issue. Methods In Experiment 1, participants associated words with verbal and nonverbal auditory stimuli before an overnight interval in which subsets of these stimuli were replayed in slow-wave sleep. We repeated this paradigm in Experiment 2 with the single difference that the gender of the verbal auditory stimuli was switched between learning and sleep. Results In Experiment 1, forgetting of cued (vs. noncued) associations was reduced by TMR with verbal and nonverbal cues to similar extents. In Experiment 2, TMR with identical nonverbal cues reduced forgetting of cued (vs. noncued) associations, replicating Experiment 1. However, TMR with nonidentical verbal cues reduced forgetting of both cued and noncued associations. Conclusions These experiments suggest that the memory effects of TMR are influenced by the acoustic overlap between stimuli delivered at training and sleep. Our findings hint at the existence of two processing routes for memory retrieval during sleep. Whereas TMR with acoustically identical cues may reactivate individual associations via simple episodic matching, TMR with nonidentical verbal cues may utilize linguistic decoding mechanisms, resulting in widespread reactivation across a broad category of memories. PMID:28934526

Both neurons and astrocytes exhibited tetrodotoxin-resistant metabotropic glutamate receptor-dependent spontaneous slow Ca2+ oscillations in striatum.

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Atsushi Tamura

Full Text Available The striatum plays an important role in linking cortical activity to basal ganglia outputs. Group I metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs are densely expressed in the medium spiny projection neurons and may be a therapeutic target for Parkinson's disease. The group I mGluRs are known to modulate the intracellular Ca(2+ signaling. To characterize Ca(2+ signaling in striatal cells, spontaneous cytoplasmic Ca(2+ transients were examined in acute slice preparations from transgenic mice expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP in the astrocytes. In both the GFP-negative cells (putative-neurons and astrocytes of the striatum, spontaneous slow and long-lasting intracellular Ca(2+ transients (referred to as slow Ca(2+ oscillations, which lasted up to approximately 200 s, were found. Neither the inhibition of action potentials nor ionotropic glutamate receptors blocked the slow Ca(2+ oscillation. Depletion of the intracellular Ca(2+ store and the blockade of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors greatly reduced the transient rate of the slow Ca(2+ oscillation, and the application of an antagonist against mGluR5 also blocked the slow Ca(2+ oscillation in both putative-neurons and astrocytes. Thus, the mGluR5-inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate signal cascade is the primary contributor to the slow Ca(2+ oscillation in both putative-neurons and astrocytes. The slow Ca(2+ oscillation features multicellular synchrony, and both putative-neurons and astrocytes participate in the synchronous activity. Therefore, the mGluR5-dependent slow Ca(2+ oscillation may involve in the neuron-glia interaction in the striatum.

Why Does Sleep Slow-Wave Activity Increase After Extended Wake? Assessing the Effects of Increased Cortical Firing During Wake and Sleep.

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Rodriguez, Alexander V; Funk, Chadd M; Vyazovskiy, Vladyslav V; Nir, Yuval; Tononi, Giulio; Cirelli, Chiara

2016-12-07

During non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, cortical neurons alternate between ON periods of firing and OFF periods of silence. This bi-stability, which is largely synchronous across neurons, is reflected in the EEG as slow waves. Slow-wave activity (SWA) increases with wake duration and declines homeostatically during sleep, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. One possibility is neuronal "fatigue": high, sustained firing in wake would force neurons to recover with more frequent and longer OFF periods during sleep. Another possibility is net synaptic potentiation during wake: stronger coupling among neurons would lead to greater synchrony and therefore higher SWA. Here, we obtained a comparable increase in sustained firing (6 h) in cortex by: (1) keeping mice awake by exposure to novel objects to promote plasticity and (2) optogenetically activating a local population of cortical neurons at wake-like levels during sleep. Sleep after extended wake led to increased SWA, higher synchrony, and more time spent OFF, with a positive correlation between SWA, synchrony, and OFF periods. Moreover, time spent OFF was correlated with cortical firing during prior wake. After local optogenetic stimulation, SWA and cortical synchrony decreased locally, time spent OFF did not change, and local SWA was not correlated with either measure. Moreover, laser-induced cortical firing was not correlated with time spent OFF afterward. Overall, these results suggest that high sustained firing per se may not be the primary determinant of SWA increases observed after extended wake. A long-standing hypothesis is that neurons fire less during slow-wave sleep to recover from the "fatigue" accrued during wake, when overall synaptic activity is higher than in sleep. This idea, however, has rarely been tested and other factors, namely increased cortical synchrony, could explain why sleep slow-wave activity (SWA) is higher after extended wake. We forced neurons in the mouse cortex to fire

Slow-wave sleep estimation on a load-cell-installed bed: a non-constrained method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choi, Byung Hun; Chung, Gih Sung; Lee, Jin-Seong; Jeong, Do-Un; Park, Kwang Suk

2009-01-01

Polysomnography (PSG) involves simultaneous and continuous monitoring of relevant normal and abnormal physiological activity during sleep. At present, an electroencephalography-based rule is generally used for classifying sleep stages. However, scoring the PSG record is quite laborious and time consuming. In this paper, movement and cardiac activity were measured unobtrusively by a load-cell-installed bed, and sleep was classified into two stages: slow-wave sleep and non-slow-wave sleep. From the measured cardiac activity, we extracted heartbeat data and calculated heart rate variability parameters: standard deviation of R–R intervals SDNN, low frequency-to-high frequency ratio, alpha of detrended fluctuation analysis and correlation coefficient of R–R interval. The developed system showed a substantial concordance with PSG results when compared using a contingency test. The mean epoch-by-epoch agreement between the proposed method and PSG was 92.5% and Cohen's kappa was 0.62

Relationship of slow and rapid EEG components of CAP to ASDA arousals in normal sleep.

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Parrino, L; Smerieri, A; Rossi, M; Terzano, M G

2001-12-15

Besides arousals (according to the ASDA definition), sleep contains also K-complexes and delta bursts which, in spite of their sleep-like features, are endowed with activating effects on autonomic functions. The link between phasic delta activities and enhancement of vegetative functions indicates the possibility of physiological activation without sleep disruption (i.e., arousal without awakening). A functional connection seems to include slow (K-complexes and delta bursts) and rapid (arousals) EEG events within the comprehensive term of activating complexes. CAP (cyclic alternating pattern) is the spontaneous EEG rhythm that ties both slow and rapid activating complexes together during NREM sleep. The present study aims at exploring the relationship between arousals and CAP components in a selected sample of healthy sleepers. Polysomnographic analysis according to the scoring rules for sleep stages and arousals. CAP analysis included also tabulation of subtypes A1 (slow EEG activating complexes), A2 and A3 (activating complexes with fast EEG components). 40 sleep-lab accomplished recordings. Healthy subjects belonging to a wide age range (38 +/- 20 yrs.). N/A. Of all the arousals occurring in NREM sleep, 87% were inserted within CAP. Subtypes A2 and A3 of CAP corresponded strikingly with arousals (r=0.843; p<0.0001), while no statistical relationship emerged when arousals were matched with subtypes A1 of CAP. Subtypes A1 instead correlated positively with the percentages of deep sleep (r=0.366; p<0.02). The CAP subtype classification encompasses both the process of sleep maintenance (subtypes A1) and sleep fragmentation (subtypes A2 and A3), and provides a periodicity dimension to the activating events of NREM sleep.

A prospective study of levetiracetam efficacy in epileptic syndromes with continuous spikes-waves during slow sleep

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Atkins, Mary; Nikanorova, Marina

2011-01-01

To evaluate the add-on effect of levetiracetam (LEV) treatment on the EEG and clinical status of children with continuous spikes-waves during slow sleep (CSWS).......To evaluate the add-on effect of levetiracetam (LEV) treatment on the EEG and clinical status of children with continuous spikes-waves during slow sleep (CSWS)....

Slow-oscillatory transcranial direct current stimulation can induce bidirectional shifts in motor cortical excitability in awake humans

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Groppa, S; Bergmann, T O; Siems, C

2010-01-01

Constant transcranial direct stimulation (c-tDCS) of the primary motor hand area (M1(HAND)) can induce bidirectional shifts in motor cortical excitability depending on the polarity of tDCS. Recently, anodal slow oscillation stimulation at a frequency of 0.75 Hz has been shown to augment intrinsic...... slow oscillations during sleep and theta oscillations during wakefulness. To embed this new type of stimulation into the existing tDCS literature, we aimed to characterize the after effects of slowly oscillating stimulation (so-tDCS) on M1(HAND) excitability and to compare them to those of c-tDCS. Here...

Different maturational changes of fast and slow sleep spindles in the first four years of life.

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D'Atri, Aurora; Novelli, Luana; Ferrara, Michele; Bruni, Oliviero; De Gennaro, Luigi

2018-02-01

Massive changes in brain morphology and function in the first years of life reveal a postero-anterior trajectory of cortical maturation accompanied by regional modifications of NREM sleep. One of the most sensible marker of this maturation process is represented by electroencephalographic (EEG) activity within the frequency range of sleep spindles. However, direct evidence that these changes actually reflect maturational modifications of fast and slow spindles still lacks. Our study aimed at answering the following questions: 1. Do cortical changes at 11.50 Hz frequency correspond to slow spindles? 2. Do fast and slow spindles show different age trajectories and different topographical distributions? 3. Do changes in peak frequency explain age changes of slow and fast spindles? We measured the antero-posterior changes of slow and fast spindles in the first 60 min of nightly sleep of 39 infants and children (0-48 mo.). We found that (A) changes of slow spindles from birth to childhood mostly affect frontal areas (B) variations of fast and slow spindles across age groups go in opposite direction, the latter progressively increasing across ages; (C) this process is not merely reducible to changes of spindle frequency. As a main finding, our cross-sectional study shows that the first form of mature spindle (i.e., corresponding to the adult phasic event of NREM sleep) is marked by the emergence of slow spindles on anterior regions around the age of 12 months. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Oscillations, neural computations and learning during wake and sleep.

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Penagos, Hector; Varela, Carmen; Wilson, Matthew A

2017-06-01

Learning and memory theories consider sleep and the reactivation of waking hippocampal neural patterns to be crucial for the long-term consolidation of memories. Here we propose that precisely coordinated representations across brain regions allow the inference and evaluation of causal relationships to train an internal generative model of the world. This training starts during wakefulness and strongly benefits from sleep because its recurring nested oscillations may reflect compositional operations that facilitate a hierarchical processing of information, potentially including behavioral policy evaluations. This suggests that an important function of sleep activity is to provide conditions conducive to general inference, prediction and insight, which contribute to a more robust internal model that underlies generalization and adaptive behavior. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sleep in the human hippocampus: a stereo-EEG study.

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Fabio Moroni

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: There is compelling evidence indicating that sleep plays a crucial role in the consolidation of new declarative, hippocampus-dependent memories. Given the increasing interest in the spatiotemporal relationships between cortical and hippocampal activity during sleep, this study aimed to shed more light on the basic features of human sleep in the hippocampus. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We recorded intracerebral stereo-EEG directly from the hippocampus and neocortical sites in five epileptic patients undergoing presurgical evaluations. The time course of classical EEG frequency bands during the first three NREM-REM sleep cycles of the night was evaluated. We found that delta power shows, also in the hippocampus, the progressive decrease across sleep cycles, indicating that a form of homeostatic regulation of delta activity is present also in this subcortical structure. Hippocampal sleep was also characterized by: i a lower relative power in the slow oscillation range during NREM sleep compared to the scalp EEG; ii a flattening of the time course of the very low frequencies (up to 1 Hz across sleep cycles, with relatively high levels of power even during REM sleep; iii a decrease of power in the beta band during REM sleep, at odds with the typical increase of power in the cortical recordings. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our data imply that cortical slow oscillation is attenuated in the hippocampal structures during NREM sleep. The most peculiar feature of hippocampal sleep is the increased synchronization of the EEG rhythms during REM periods. This state of resonance may have a supportive role for the processing/consolidation of memory.

Preserved sleep microstructure in blind individuals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aubin, Sébrina; Christensen, Julie A.E.; Jennum, Poul

2018-01-01

, as light is the primary zeitgeber of the master biological clock found in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus. In addition, a greater number of sleep disturbances is often reported in blind individuals. Here, we examined various electroencephalographic microstructural components of sleep, both...... during rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep and non-REM (NREM) sleep, between blind individuals, including both of early and late onset, and normal-sighted controls. During wakefulness, occipital alpha oscillations were lower, or absent in blind individuals. During sleep, differences were observed across...... electrode derivations between the early and late blind samples, which may reflect altered cortical networking in early blindness. Despite these differences in power spectra density, the electroencephalography microstructure of sleep, including sleep spindles, slow wave activity, and sawtooth waves, remained...

Characterization of sleep need dissipation using EEG based slow-wave activity analysis in two age groups

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Garcia-Molina, G.; Baehr, K.; Steele, B.; Tsoneva, T.K.; Pfundtner, S.; Mahadevan, A.; Papas, N.; Riedner, B.; Tononi, G.; White, D.

2017-01-01

Introduction: In the two-process model of sleep regulation, slow-wave activity (SWA, EEG power in the 0.5–4 Hz band) is a direct indicator of sleep need. SWA builds up during NREM sleep, declines before the onset of REM sleep, remains low during REM and the level of increase in successive NREM

A mechanism for upper airway stability during slow wave sleep.

Science.gov (United States)

McSharry, David G; Saboisky, Julian P; Deyoung, Pam; Matteis, Paul; Jordan, Amy S; Trinder, John; Smales, Erik; Hess, Lauren; Guo, Mengshuang; Malhotra, Atul

2013-04-01

The severity of obstructive sleep apnea is diminished (sometimes markedly) during slow wave sleep (SWS). We sought to understand why SWS stabilizes the upper airway. Increased single motor unit (SMU) activity of the major upper airway dilating muscle (genioglossus) should improve upper airway stability. Therefore, we hypothesized that genioglossus SMUs would increase their activity during SWS in comparison with Stage N2 sleep. The activity of genioglossus SMUs was studied on both sides of the transition between Stage N2 sleep and SWS. Sleep laboratory. Twenty-nine subjects (age 38 ± 13 yr, 17 males) were studied. SWS. Subjects slept overnight with fine-wire electrodes in their genioglossus muscles and with full polysomnographic and end tidal carbon dioxide monitors. Fifteen inspiratory phasic (IP) and 11 inspiratory tonic (IT) units were identified from seven subjects and these units exhibited significantly increased inspiratory discharge frequencies during SWS compared with Stage N2 sleep. The peak discharge frequency of the inspiratory units (IP and IT) was 22.7 ± 4.1 Hz in SWS versus 20.3 ± 4.5 Hz in Stage N2 (P sleep (82.6 ± 39.5 %TI, P sleep (12.6 ± 3.1 Hz, P = 0.035). There was minimal recruitment or derecruitment of units between SWS and Stage N2 sleep. Increased genioglossus SMU activity likely makes the airway more stable and resistant to collapse throughout the respiratory cycle during SWS.

Memory traces of long-range coordinated oscillations in the sleeping human brain.

Science.gov (United States)

Piantoni, Giovanni; Van Der Werf, Ysbrand D; Jensen, Ole; Van Someren, Eus J W

2015-01-01

Cognition involves coordinated activity across distributed neuronal networks. Neuronal activity during learning triggers cortical plasticity that allows for reorganization of the neuronal network and integration of new information. Animal studies have shown post-learning reactivation of learning-elicited neuronal network activity during subsequent sleep, supporting consolidation of the reorganization. However, no previous studies, to our knowledge, have demonstrated reactivation of specific learning-elicited long-range functional connectivity during sleep in humans. We here show reactivation of learning-induced long-range synchronization of magnetoencephalography power fluctuations in human sleep. Visuomotor learning elicited a specific profile of long-range cortico-cortical synchronization of slow (0.1 Hz) fluctuations in beta band (12-30 Hz) power. The parieto-occipital part of this synchronization profile reappeared in delta band (1-3.5 Hz) power fluctuations during subsequent sleep, but not during the intervening wakefulness period. Individual differences in the reactivated synchronization predicted postsleep performance improvement. The presleep resting-state synchronization profile was not reactivated during sleep. The findings demonstrate reactivation of long-range coordination of neuronal activity in humans, more specifically of reactivation of coupling of infra-slow fluctuations in oscillatory power. The spatiotemporal profile of delta power fluctuations during sleep may subserve memory consolidation by echoing coordinated activation elicited by prior learning. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Cued memory reactivation during slow-wave sleep promotes explicit knowledge of a motor sequence.

Science.gov (United States)

Cousins, James N; El-Deredy, Wael; Parkes, Laura M; Hennies, Nora; Lewis, Penelope A

2014-11-26

Memories are gradually consolidated after initial encoding, and this can sometimes lead to a transition from implicit to explicit knowledge. The exact physiological processes underlying this reorganization remain unclear. Here, we used a serial reaction time task to determine whether targeted memory reactivation (TMR) of specific memory traces during slow-wave sleep promotes the emergence of explicit knowledge. Human participants learned two 12-item sequences of button presses (A and B). These differed in both cue order and in the auditory tones associated with each of the four fingers (one sequence had four higher-pitched tones). Subsequent overnight sleep was monitored, and the tones associated with one learned sequence were replayed during slow-wave sleep. After waking, participants demonstrated greater explicit knowledge (p = 0.005) and more improved procedural skill (p = 0.04) for the cued sequence relative to the uncued sequence. Furthermore, fast spindles (13.5-15 Hz) at task-related motor regions predicted overnight enhancement in procedural skill (r = 0.71, p = 0.01). Auditory cues had no effect on post-sleep memory performance in a control group who received TMR before sleep. These findings suggest that TMR during sleep can alter memory representations and promote the emergence of explicit knowledge, supporting the notion that reactivation during sleep is a key mechanism in this process. Copyright © 2014 Cousins et al.

Neocortical inhibitory activities and long-range afferents contribute to the synchronous onset of silent states of the neocortical slow oscillation.

Science.gov (United States)

Lemieux, Maxime; Chauvette, Sylvain; Timofeev, Igor

2015-02-01

During slow-wave sleep, neurons of the thalamocortical network are engaged in a slow oscillation (<1 Hz), which consists of an alternation between the active and the silent states. Several studies have provided insights on the transition from the silent, which are essentially periods of disfacilitation, to the active states. However, the conditions leading to the synchronous onset of the silent state remain elusive. We hypothesized that a synchronous input to local inhibitory neurons could contribute to the transition to the silent state in the cat suprasylvian gyrus during natural sleep and under ketamine-xylazine anesthesia. After partial and complete deafferentation of the cortex, we found that the silent state onset was more variable among remote sites. We found that the transition to the silent state was preceded by a reduction in excitatory postsynaptic potentials and firing probability in cortical neurons. We tested the impact of chloride-mediated inhibition in the silent-state onset. We uncovered a long-duration (100-300 ms) inhibitory barrage occurring about 250 ms before the silent state onset in 3-6% of neurons during anesthesia and in 12-15% of cases during natural sleep. These inhibitory activities caused a decrease in cortical firing that reduced the excitatory drive in the neocortical network. That chain reaction of disfacilitation ends up on the silent state. Electrical stimuli could trigger a network silent state with a maximal efficacy in deep cortical layers. We conclude that long-range afferents to the neocortex and chloride-mediated inhibition play a role in the initiation of the silent state. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

Quantitative Analysis of the Effects of Slow Wave Sleep Deprivation During the First 3 h of Sleep on Subsequent EEG Power Density

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dijk, Derk Jan; Beersma, Domien G.M.; Daan, Serge; Bloem, Gerda M.; Hoofdakker, Rutger H. van den

1987-01-01

The relation between EEG power density during slow wave sleep (SWS) deprivation and power density during subsequent sleep was investigated. Nine young male adults slept in the laboratory for 3 consecutive nights. Spectral analysis of the EEG on the 2nd (baseline) night revealed an exponential

The multiple time scales of sleep dynamics as a challenge for modelling the sleeping brain.

Science.gov (United States)

Olbrich, Eckehard; Claussen, Jens Christian; Achermann, Peter

2011-10-13

A particular property of the sleeping brain is that it exhibits dynamics on very different time scales ranging from the typical sleep oscillations such as sleep spindles and slow waves that can be observed in electroencephalogram (EEG) segments of several seconds duration over the transitions between the different sleep stages on a time scale of minutes to the dynamical processes involved in sleep regulation with typical time constants in the range of hours. There is an increasing body of work on mathematical and computational models addressing these different dynamics, however, usually considering only processes on a single time scale. In this paper, we review and present a new analysis of the dynamics of human sleep EEG at the different time scales and relate the findings to recent modelling efforts pointing out both the achievements and remaining challenges.

Characterization of K-complexes and slow wave activity in a neural mass model.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arne Weigenand

2014-11-01

Full Text Available NREM sleep is characterized by two hallmarks, namely K-complexes (KCs during sleep stage N2 and cortical slow oscillations (SOs during sleep stage N3. While the underlying dynamics on the neuronal level is well known and can be easily measured, the resulting behavior on the macroscopic population level remains unclear. On the basis of an extended neural mass model of the cortex, we suggest a new interpretation of the mechanisms responsible for the generation of KCs and SOs. As the cortex transitions from wake to deep sleep, in our model it approaches an oscillatory regime via a Hopf bifurcation. Importantly, there is a canard phenomenon arising from a homoclinic bifurcation, whose orbit determines the shape of large amplitude SOs. A KC corresponds to a single excursion along the homoclinic orbit, while SOs are noise-driven oscillations around a stable focus. The model generates both time series and spectra that strikingly resemble real electroencephalogram data and points out possible differences between the different stages of natural sleep.

Cortical dendritic activity correlates with spindle-rich oscillations during sleep in rodents.

Science.gov (United States)

Seibt, Julie; Richard, Clément J; Sigl-Glöckner, Johanna; Takahashi, Naoya; Kaplan, David I; Doron, Guy; de Limoges, Denis; Bocklisch, Christina; Larkum, Matthew E

2017-09-25

How sleep influences brain plasticity is not known. In particular, why certain electroencephalographic (EEG) rhythms are linked to memory consolidation is poorly understood. Calcium activity in dendrites is known to be necessary for structural plasticity changes, but this has never been carefully examined during sleep. Here, we report that calcium activity in populations of neocortical dendrites is increased and synchronised during oscillations in the spindle range in naturally sleeping rodents. Remarkably, the same relationship is not found in cell bodies of the same neurons and throughout the cortical column. Spindles during sleep have been suggested to be important for brain development and plasticity. Our results provide evidence for a physiological link of spindles in the cortex specific to dendrites, the main site of synaptic plasticity.Different stages of sleep, marked by particular electroencephalographic (EEG) signatures, have been linked to memory consolidation, but underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, the authors show that dendritic calcium synchronisation correlates with spindle-rich sleep phases.

Vocabulary learning benefits from REM after slow-wave sleep.

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Batterink, Laura J; Westerberg, Carmen E; Paller, Ken A

2017-10-01

Memory reactivation during slow-wave sleep (SWS) influences the consolidation of recently acquired knowledge. This reactivation occurs spontaneously during sleep but can also be triggered by presenting learning-related cues, a technique known as targeted memory reactivation (TMR). Here we examined whether TMR can improve vocabulary learning. Participants learned the meanings of 60 novel words. Auditory cues for half the words were subsequently presented during SWS in an afternoon nap. Memory performance for cued versus uncued words did not differ at the group level but was systematically influenced by REM sleep duration. Participants who obtained relatively greater amounts of REM showed a significant benefit for cued relative to uncued words, whereas participants who obtained little or no REM demonstrated a significant effect in the opposite direction. We propose that REM after SWS may be critical for the consolidation of highly integrative memories, such as new vocabulary. Reactivation during SWS may allow newly encoded memories to be associated with other information, but this association can include disruptive linkages with pre-existing memories. Subsequent REM sleep may then be particularly beneficial for integrating new memories into appropriate pre-existing memory networks. These findings support the general proposition that memory storage benefits optimally from a cyclic succession of SWS and REM. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Pupillographic assessment of sleepiness in sleep-deprived healthy subjects.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilhelm, B; Wilhelm, H; Lüdtke, H; Streicher, P; Adler, M

1998-05-01

Spontaneous pupillary-behavior in darkness provides information about a subject's level of sleepiness. In the present work, pupil measurements in complete darkness and quiet have been recorded continuously over 11-minute period with infrared video pupillography at 25 Hz. The data have been analyzed to yield three parameters describing pupil behavior; the power of diameter variation at frequencies below 0.8 Hz (slow changes in pupil size), the pupillary unrest index, and the average pupil size. To investigate the changes of these parameters in sleep deprivation, spontaneous pupillary behavior in darkness was recorded every 2 hours in 13 healthy subjects from 19:00 to 07:00 during forced wakefulness. On each occasion, comparative subjective sleepiness was assessed with a self-rating scale (Stanford Sleepiness Scale, SSS). The power of slow pupillary oscillations (< or = 0.8 Hz) increased significantly and so did the values of SSS, while basic pupil diameter decreased significantly. Slow pupillary oscillations and SSS did not correlate well in general but high values of pupil parameters were always associated with high values in subjective rating. Our results demonstrate a strong relationship between ongoing sleep deprivation and typical changes in the frequency profiles of spontaneous pupillary oscillations and the tendency to instability in pupil size in normals. These findings suggest that the results of pupil data analysis permit an objective measurement of sleepiness.

Landau-Kleffner Syndrome, Electrical Status Epilepticus in Slow Wave Sleep, and Language Regression in Children

Science.gov (United States)

McVicar, Kathryn A.; Shinnar, Shlomo

2004-01-01

The Landau-Kleffner syndrome (LKS) and electrical status epilepticus in slow wave sleep (ESES) are rare childhood-onset epileptic encephalopathies in which loss of language skills occurs in the context of an epileptiform EEG activated in sleep. Although in LKS the loss of function is limited to language, in ESES there is a wider spectrum of…

Recalling and forgetting dreams: theta and alpha oscillations during sleep predict subsequent dream recall.

Science.gov (United States)

Marzano, Cristina; Ferrara, Michele; Mauro, Federica; Moroni, Fabio; Gorgoni, Maurizio; Tempesta, Daniela; Cipolli, Carlo; De Gennaro, Luigi

2011-05-04

Under the assumption that dream recall is a peculiar form of declarative memory, we have hypothesized that (1) the encoding of dream contents during sleep should share some electrophysiological mechanisms with the encoding of episodic memories of the awake brain and (2) recalling a dream(s) after awakening from non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep should be associated with different brain oscillations. Here, we report that cortical brain oscillations of human sleep are predictive of successful dream recall. In particular, after morning awakening from REM sleep, a higher frontal 5-7 Hz (theta) activity was associated with successful dream recall. This finding mirrors the increase in frontal theta activity during successful encoding of episodic memories in wakefulness. Moreover, in keeping with the different EEG background, a different predictive relationship was found after awakening from stage 2 NREM sleep. Specifically, a lower 8-12 Hz (alpha) oscillatory activity of the right temporal area was associated with a successful dream recall. These findings provide the first evidence of univocal cortical electroencephalographic correlates of dream recall, suggesting that the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the encoding and recall of episodic memories may remain the same across different states of consciousness.

TMS-induced cortical potentiation during wakefulness locally increases slow wave activity during sleep.

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Reto Huber

2007-03-01

Full Text Available Sleep slow wave activity (SWA is thought to reflect sleep need, increasing in proportion to the length of prior wakefulness and decreasing during sleep. However, the process responsible for SWA regulation is not known. We showed recently that SWA increases locally after a learning task involving a circumscribed brain region, suggesting that SWA may reflect plastic changes triggered by learning.To test this hypothesis directly, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS in conjunction with high-density EEG in humans. We show that 5-Hz TMS applied to motor cortex induces a localized potentiation of TMS-evoked cortical EEG responses. We then show that, in the sleep episode following 5-Hz TMS, SWA increases markedly (+39.1+/-17.4%, p<0.01, n = 10. Electrode coregistration with magnetic resonance images localized the increase in SWA to the same premotor site as the maximum TMS-induced potentiation during wakefulness. Moreover, the magnitude of potentiation during wakefulness predicts the local increase in SWA during sleep.These results provide direct evidence for a link between plastic changes and the local regulation of sleep need.

Increased frontal sleep slow wave activity in adolescents with major depression

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Noemi Tesler

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Sleep slow wave activity (SWA, the major electrophysiological characteristic of deep sleep, mirrors both cortical restructuring and functioning. The incidence of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD substantially rises during the vulnerable developmental phase of adolescence, where essential cortical restructuring is taking place. The goal of this study was to assess characteristics of SWA topography in adolescents with MDD, in order to assess abnormalities in both cortical restructuring and functioning on a local level. All night high-density EEG was recorded in 15 patients meeting DSM-5 criteria for MDD and 15 sex- and age-matched healthy controls. The actual symptom severity was assessed using the Children's Depression Rating Scale—Revised (CDRS-R. Topographical power maps were calculated based on the average SWA of the first non-rapid eye movement (NREM sleep episode. Depressed adolescents exhibited significantly more SWA in a cluster of frontal electrodes compared to controls. SWA over frontal brain regions correlated positively with the CDRS-R subscore “morbid thoughts”. Self-reported sleep latency was significantly higher in depressed adolescents compared to controls whereas sleep architecture did not differ between the groups. Higher frontal SWA in depressed adolescents may represent a promising biomarker tracing cortical regions of intense use and/or restructuring.

Coupled slow and fast surface dynamics in an electrocatalytic oscillator: Model and simulations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nascimento, Melke A.; Nagao, Raphael; Eiswirth, Markus; Varela, Hamilton

2014-01-01

The co-existence of disparate time scales is pervasive in many systems. In particular for surface reactions, it has been shown that the long-term evolution of the core oscillator is decisively influenced by slow surface changes, such as progressing deactivation. Here we present an in-depth numerical investigation of the coupled slow and fast surface dynamics in an electrocatalytic oscillator. The model consists of four nonlinear coupled ordinary differential equations, investigated over a wide parameter range. Besides the conventional bifurcation analysis, the system was studied by means of high-resolution period and Lyapunov diagrams. It was observed that the bifurcation diagram changes considerably as the irreversible surface poisoning evolves, and the oscillatory region shrinks. The qualitative dynamics changes accordingly and the chaotic oscillations are dramatically suppressed. Nevertheless, periodic cascades are preserved in a confined region of the resistance vs. voltage diagram. Numerical results are compared to experiments published earlier and the latter reinterpreted. Finally, the comprehensive description of the time-evolution in the period and Lyapunov diagrams suggests further experimental studies correlating the evolution of the system's dynamics with changes of the catalyst structure

[The ultradian rhythm of sleep: diverse relations with pituitary and adrenal hormones].

Science.gov (United States)

Brandenberger, G

2003-11-01

We evaluated the relationship between the ultradian rhythm of sleep and the secretory episodes of pituitary-adrenal hormones. Prolactin (PRL) and TSH exhibited opposite phase relationships with delta waves, PRL increasing and TSH decreasing when delta waves developed. Delta waves never increased together with an increase in cortisol secretion. They oscillated independently from each other throughout the 24 hour period, but when they were present at the same time, they oscillated in opposing phases. Concerning growth hormone (GH), its major peak which occurred shortly after sleep onset in association with the first slow wave sleep episode was blunted during sleep deprivation. However, this blunting was compensated during the day, so that the amount of GH secreted during a 24-hr period was similar whether or not a person had slept during the night. The physiological significance and the clinical implications of the various relationships of the endocrine systems with sleep are poorly known.

Essential roles of GABA transporter-1 in controlling rapid eye movement sleep and in increased slow wave activity after sleep deprivation.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xin-Hong Xu

Full Text Available GABA is the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system that has been strongly implicated in the regulation of sleep. GABA transporter subtype 1 (GAT1 constructs high affinity reuptake sites for GABA and regulates GABAergic transmission in the brain. However, the role of GAT1 in sleep-wake regulation remains elusive. In the current study, we characterized the spontaneous sleep-wake cycle and responses to sleep deprivation in GAT1 knock-out (KO mice. GAT1 KO mice exhibited dominant theta-activity and a remarkable reduction of EEG power in low frequencies across all vigilance stages. Under baseline conditions, spontaneous rapid eye movement (REM sleep of KO mice was elevated both during the light and dark periods, and non-REM (NREM sleep was reduced during the light period only. KO mice also showed more state transitions from NREM to REM sleep and from REM sleep to wakefulness, as well as more number of REM and NREM sleep bouts than WT mice. During the dark period, KO mice exhibited more REM sleep bouts only. Six hours of sleep deprivation induced rebound increases in NREM and REM sleep in both genotypes. However, slow wave activity, the intensity component of NREM sleep was briefly elevated in WT mice but remained completely unchanged in KO mice, compared with their respective baselines. These results indicate that GAT1 plays a critical role in the regulation of REM sleep and homeostasis of NREM sleep.

The dream-lag effect: selective processing of personally significant events during Rapid Eye Movement sleep, but not during Slow Wave Sleep

OpenAIRE

van Rijn, E.; Eichenlaub, J.-B.; Lewis, Penelope A.; Walker, M.P.; Gaskell, M.G.; Malinowski, J.E.; Blagrove, M.

2015-01-01

Incorporation of details from waking life events into Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep dreams has been found to be highest on the night after, and then 5-7 nights after events (termed, respectively, the day-residue and dream-lag effects). In experiment 1, 44 participants kept a daily log for 10. days, reporting major daily activities (MDAs), personally significant events (PSEs), and major concerns (MCs). Dream reports were collected from REM and Slow Wave Sleep (SWS) in the laboratory, or from ...

Daytime Ayahuasca administration modulates REM and slow-wave sleep in healthy volunteers.

Science.gov (United States)

Barbanoj, Manel J; Riba, Jordi; Clos, S; Giménez, S; Grasa, E; Romero, S

2008-02-01

Ayahuasca is a traditional South American psychoactive beverage and the central sacrament of Brazilian-based religious groups, with followers in Europe and the United States. The tea contains the psychedelic indole N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and beta-carboline alkaloids with monoamine oxidase-inhibiting properties that render DMT orally active. DMT interacts with serotonergic neurotransmission acting as a partial agonist at 5-HT(1A) and 5-HT(2A/2C) receptor sites. Given the role played by serotonin in the regulation of the sleep/wake cycle, we investigated the effects of daytime ayahuasca consumption in sleep parameters. Subjective sleep quality, polysomnography (PSG), and spectral analysis were assessed in a group of 22 healthy male volunteers after the administration of a placebo, an ayahuasca dose equivalent to 1 mg DMT kg(-1) body weight, and 20 mg d-amphetamine, a proaminergic drug, as a positive control. Results show that ayahuasca did not induce any subjectively perceived deterioration of sleep quality or PSG-measured disruptions of sleep initiation or maintenance, in contrast with d-amphetamine, which delayed sleep initiation, disrupted sleep maintenance, induced a predominance of 'light' vs 'deep' sleep and significantly impaired subjective sleep quality. PSG analysis also showed that similarly to d-amphetamine, ayahuasca inhibits rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, decreasing its duration, both in absolute values and as a percentage of total sleep time, and shows a trend increase in its onset latency. Spectral analysis showed that d-amphetamine and ayahuasca increased power in the high frequency range, mainly during stage 2. Remarkably, whereas slow-wave sleep (SWS) power in the first night cycle, an indicator of sleep pressure, was decreased by d-amphetamine, ayahuasca enhanced power in this frequency band. Results show that daytime serotonergic psychedelic drug administration leads to measurable changes in PSG and sleep power spectrum and suggest an

Deep sleep after social stress: NREM sleep slow-wave activity is enhanced in both winners and losers of a conflict.

Science.gov (United States)

Kamphuis, Jeanine; Lancel, Marike; Koolhaas, Jaap M; Meerlo, Peter

2015-07-01

Sleep is considered to be a recovery process of prior wakefulness. Not only duration of the waking period affects sleep architecture and sleep EEG, the quality of wakefulness is also highly important. Studies in rats have shown that social defeat stress, in which experimental animals are attacked and defeated by a dominant conspecific, is followed by an acute increase in NREM sleep EEG slow wave activity (SWA). However, it is not known whether this effect is specific for the stress of social defeat or a result of the conflict per se. In the present experiment, we examined how sleep is affected in both the winners and losers of a social conflict. Sleep-wake patterns and sleep EEG were recorded in male wild-type Groningen rats that were subjected to 1h of social conflict in the middle of the light phase. All animals were confronted with a conspecific of similar aggression level and the conflict took place in a neutral arena where both individuals had an equal chance to either win or lose the conflict. NREM sleep SWA was significantly increased after the social conflict compared to baseline values and a gentle stimulation control condition. REM sleep was significantly suppressed in the first hours after the conflict. Winners and losers did not differ significantly in NREM sleep time, NREM sleep SWA and REM sleep time immediately after the conflict. Losers tended to have slightly more NREM sleep later in the recovery period. This study shows that in rats a social conflict with an unpredictable outcome has quantitatively and qualitatively largely similar acute effects on subsequent sleep in winners and losers. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Rats Housed on Corncob Bedding Show Less Slow-Wave Sleep

OpenAIRE

Leys, Laura J; McGaraughty, Steve; Radek, Richard J

2012-01-01

Despite the reported advantages of corncob bedding, questions have emerged about how comfortable animals find this type of bedding as a resting surface. In this study, encephalography (EEG) was used to compare the effects of corncob and aspen-chip bedding on rat slow-wave sleep (SWS). According to a facility-wide initiative, rats that were weaned on aspen-chip bedding were switched to corncob bedding in home cages and EEG recording chambers. Spontaneous EEG recordings obtained for 5 wk after ...

The influence of sleep deprivation and oscillating motion on sleepiness, motion sickness, and cognitive and motor performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaplan, Janna; Ventura, Joel; Bakshi, Avijit; Pierobon, Alberto; Lackner, James R; DiZio, Paul

2017-01-01

Our goal was to determine how sleep deprivation, nauseogenic motion, and a combination of motion and sleep deprivation affect cognitive vigilance, visual-spatial perception, motor learning and retention, and balance. We exposed four groups of subjects to different combinations of normal 8h sleep or 4h sleep for two nights combined with testing under stationary conditions or during 0.28Hz horizontal linear oscillation. On the two days following controlled sleep, all subjects underwent four test sessions per day that included evaluations of fatigue, motion sickness, vigilance, perceptual discrimination, perceptual learning, motor performance and learning, and balance. Sleep loss and exposure to linear oscillation had additive or multiplicative relationships to sleepiness, motion sickness severity, decreases in vigilance and in perceptual discrimination and learning. Sleep loss also decelerated the rate of adaptation to motion sickness over repeated sessions. Sleep loss degraded the capacity to compensate for novel robotically induced perturbations of reaching movements but did not adversely affect adaptive recovery of accurate reaching. Overall, tasks requiring substantial attention to cognitive and motor demands were degraded more than tasks that were more automatic. Our findings indicate that predicting performance needs to take into account in addition to sleep loss, the attentional demands and novelty of tasks, the motion environment in which individuals will be performing and their prior susceptibility to motion sickness during exposure to provocative motion stimulation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Phase-locking regions in a forced model of slow insulin and glucose oscillations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sturis, Jeppe; Knudsen, Carsten; O'Meara, Niall M.

1995-01-01

We present a detailed numerical investigation of the phase-locking regions in a forced model of slow oscillations in human insulin secretion and blood glucose concentration. The bifurcation structures of period 2pi and 4pi tongues are mapped out and found to be qualitatively identical to those...

Phase-locking regions in a forced model of slow insulin and glucose oscillations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sturis, J.; Knudsen, C.; O'Meara, N.M.

1996-01-01

We present a detailed numerical investigation of the phase-locking regions in a forced model of slow oscillations in human insulin secretion and blood glucose concentration. The bifurcation structures of period 2pi and 4pi tongues are mapped out and found to be qualitatively identical to those...

Dissociating the contributions of slow-wave sleep and rapid eye movement sleep to emotional item and source memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Groch, S; Zinke, K; Wilhelm, I; Born, J

2015-07-01

Sleep benefits the consolidation of emotional memories, and this influence is commonly attributed to the rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep. However, the contributions of sleep stages to memory for an emotional episode may differ for the event per se (i.e., item memory), and the context in which it occurred (source memory). Here, we examined the effects of slow wave sleep (SWS) and REM sleep on the consolidation of emotionally negative and neutral item (picture recognition) and source memory (recall of picture-location and picture-frame color association) in humans. In Study 1, the participants (n=18) learned 48 negative and 48 neutral pictures which were presented at specific locations and preceded by colored frames that had to be associated with the picture. In a within-subject design, learning was either followed by a 3-h early-night SWS-rich or by a late-night REM sleep-rich retention interval, then retrieval was tested. Only after REM-rich sleep, and not after SWS-rich sleep, was there a significant emotional enhancement, i.e., a significantly superior retention of emotional over neutral pictures. On the other hand, after SWS-rich sleep the retention of picture-frame color associations was better than after REM-rich sleep. However, this benefit was observed only for neutral pictures; and it was completely absent for the emotional pictures. To examine whether this absent benefit reflected a suppressive effect of emotionality on associations of minor task relevance, in Study 2 we manipulated the relevance of the picture-frame color association by combining it with information about monetary reward, following otherwise comparable procedures. Here, rewarded picture-frame color associations were equally well retained over SWS-rich early sleep no matter if the frames were associated with emotional or neutral pictures. Results are consistent with the view that REM sleep favors the emotional enhancement of item memory whereas SWS appears to contribute primarily

Quantifying Infra-slow Dynamics of Spectral Power and Heart Rate in Sleeping Mice.

Science.gov (United States)

Fernandez, Laura M J; Lecci, Sandro; Cardis, Romain; Vantomme, Gil; Béard, Elidie; Lüthi, Anita

2017-08-02

Three vigilance states dominate mammalian life: wakefulness, non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) sleep, and REM sleep. As more neural correlates of behavior are identified in freely moving animals, this three-fold subdivision becomes too simplistic. During wakefulness, ensembles of global and local cortical activities, together with peripheral parameters such as pupillary diameter and sympathovagal balance, define various degrees of arousal. It remains unclear the extent to which sleep also forms a continuum of brain states-within which the degree of resilience to sensory stimuli and arousability, and perhaps other sleep functions, vary gradually-and how peripheral physiological states co-vary. Research advancing the methods to monitor multiple parameters during sleep, as well as attributing to constellations of these functional attributes, is central to refining our understanding of sleep as a multifunctional process during which many beneficial effects must be executed. Identifying novel parameters characterizing sleep states will open opportunities for novel diagnostic avenues in sleep disorders. We present a procedure to describe dynamic variations of mouse non-REM sleep states via the combined monitoring and analysis of electroencephalogram (EEG)/electrocorticogram (ECoG), electromyogram (EMG), and electrocardiogram (ECG) signals using standard polysomnographic recording techniques. Using this approach, we found that mouse non-REM sleep is organized into cycles of coordinated neural and cardiac oscillations that generate successive 25-s intervals of high and low fragility to external stimuli. Therefore, central and autonomic nervous systems are coordinated to form behaviorally distinct sleep states during consolidated non-REM sleep. We present surgical manipulations for polysomnographic (i.e., EEG/EMG combined with ECG) monitoring to track these cycles in the freely sleeping mouse, the analysis to quantify their dynamics, and the acoustic stimulation protocols to

Long-lasting novelty-induced neuronal reverberation during slow-wave sleep in multiple forebrain areas.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sidarta Ribeiro

2004-01-01

Full Text Available The discovery of experience-dependent brain reactivation during both slow-wave (SW and rapid eye-movement (REM sleep led to the notion that the consolidation of recently acquired memory traces requires neural replay during sleep. To date, however, several observations continue to undermine this hypothesis. To address some of these objections, we investigated the effects of a transient novel experience on the long-term evolution of ongoing neuronal activity in the rat forebrain. We observed that spatiotemporal patterns of neuronal ensemble activity originally produced by the tactile exploration of novel objects recurred for up to 48 h in the cerebral cortex, hippocampus, putamen, and thalamus. This novelty-induced recurrence was characterized by low but significant correlations values. Nearly identical results were found for neuronal activity sampled when animals were moving between objects without touching them. In contrast, negligible recurrence was observed for neuronal patterns obtained when animals explored a familiar environment. While the reverberation of past patterns of neuronal activity was strongest during SW sleep, waking was correlated with a decrease of neuronal reverberation. REM sleep showed more variable results across animals. In contrast with data from hippocampal place cells, we found no evidence of time compression or expansion of neuronal reverberation in any of the sampled forebrain areas. Our results indicate that persistent experience-dependent neuronal reverberation is a general property of multiple forebrain structures. It does not consist of an exact replay of previous activity, but instead it defines a mild and consistent bias towards salient neural ensemble firing patterns. These results are compatible with a slow and progressive process of memory consolidation, reflecting novelty-related neuronal ensemble relationships that seem to be context- rather than stimulus-specific. Based on our current and previous results

Glucose Induces Slow-Wave Sleep by Exciting the Sleep-Promoting Neurons in the Ventrolateral Preoptic Nucleus: A New Link between Sleep and Metabolism.

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Varin, Christophe; Rancillac, Armelle; Geoffroy, Hélène; Arthaud, Sébastien; Fort, Patrice; Gallopin, Thierry

2015-07-08

Sleep-active neurons located in the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus (VLPO) play a crucial role in the induction and maintenance of slow-wave sleep (SWS). However, the cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for their activation at sleep onset remain poorly understood. Here, we test the hypothesis that a rise in extracellular glucose concentration in the VLPO can promote sleep by increasing the activity of sleep-promoting VLPO neurons. We find that infusion of a glucose concentration into the VLPO of mice promotes SWS and increases the density of c-Fos-labeled neurons selectively in the VLPO. Moreover, we show in patch-clamp recordings from brain slices that VLPO neurons exhibiting properties of sleep-promoting neurons are selectively excited by glucose within physiological range. This glucose-induced excitation implies the catabolism of glucose, leading to a closure of ATP-sensitive potassium (KATP) channels. The extracellular glucose concentration monitors the gating of KATP channels of sleep-promoting neurons, highlighting that these neurons can adapt their excitability according to the extracellular energy status. Together, these results provide evidence that glucose may participate in the mechanisms of SWS promotion and/or consolidation. Although the brain circuitry underlying vigilance states is well described, the molecular mechanisms responsible for sleep onset remain largely unknown. Combining in vitro and in vivo experiments, we demonstrate that glucose likely contributes to sleep onset facilitation by increasing the excitability of sleep-promoting neurons in the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus (VLPO). We find here that these neurons integrate energetic signals such as ambient glucose directly to regulate vigilance states accordingly. Glucose-induced excitation of sleep-promoting VLPO neurons should therefore be involved in the drowsiness that one feels after a high-sugar meal. This novel mechanism regulating the activity of VLPO neurons reinforces the

The role of sleep spindles and slow-wave activity in integrating new information in semantic memory.

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Tamminen, Jakke; Lambon Ralph, Matthew A; Lewis, Penelope A

2013-09-25

Assimilating new information into existing knowledge is a fundamental part of consolidating new memories and allowing them to guide behavior optimally and is vital for conceptual knowledge (semantic memory), which is accrued over many years. Sleep is important for memory consolidation, but its impact upon assimilation of new information into existing semantic knowledge has received minimal examination. Here, we examined the integration process by training human participants on novel words with meanings that fell into densely or sparsely populated areas of semantic memory in two separate sessions. Overnight sleep was polysomnographically monitored after each training session and recall was tested immediately after training, after a night of sleep, and 1 week later. Results showed that participants learned equal numbers of both word types, thus equating amount and difficulty of learning across the conditions. Measures of word recognition speed showed a disadvantage for novel words in dense semantic neighborhoods, presumably due to interference from many semantically related concepts, suggesting that the novel words had been successfully integrated into semantic memory. Most critically, semantic neighborhood density influenced sleep architecture, with participants exhibiting more sleep spindles and slow-wave activity after learning the sparse compared with the dense neighborhood words. These findings provide the first evidence that spindles and slow-wave activity mediate integration of new information into existing semantic networks.

Optimizing detection and analysis of slow waves in sleep EEG.

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Mensen, Armand; Riedner, Brady; Tononi, Giulio

2016-12-01

Analysis of individual slow waves in EEG recording during sleep provides both greater sensitivity and specificity compared to spectral power measures. However, parameters for detection and analysis have not been widely explored and validated. We present a new, open-source, Matlab based, toolbox for the automatic detection and analysis of slow waves; with adjustable parameter settings, as well as manual correction and exploration of the results using a multi-faceted visualization tool. We explore a large search space of parameter settings for slow wave detection and measure their effects on a selection of outcome parameters. Every choice of parameter setting had some effect on at least one outcome parameter. In general, the largest effect sizes were found when choosing the EEG reference, type of canonical waveform, and amplitude thresholding. Previously published methods accurately detect large, global waves but are conservative and miss the detection of smaller amplitude, local slow waves. The toolbox has additional benefits in terms of speed, user-interface, and visualization options to compare and contrast slow waves. The exploration of parameter settings in the toolbox highlights the importance of careful selection of detection METHODS: The sensitivity and specificity of the automated detection can be improved by manually adding or deleting entire waves and or specific channels using the toolbox visualization functions. The toolbox standardizes the detection procedure, sets the stage for reliable results and comparisons and is easy to use without previous programming experience. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Boosting Vocabulary Learning by Verbal Cueing During Sleep.

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Schreiner, Thomas; Rasch, Björn

2015-11-01

Reactivating memories during sleep by re-exposure to associated memory cues (e.g., odors or sounds) improves memory consolidation. Here, we tested for the first time whether verbal cueing during sleep can improve vocabulary learning. We cued prior learned Dutch words either during non-rapid eye movement sleep (NonREM) or during active or passive waking. Re-exposure to Dutch words during sleep improved later memory for the German translation of the cued words when compared with uncued words. Recall of uncued words was similar to an additional group receiving no verbal cues during sleep. Furthermore, verbal cueing failed to improve memory during active and passive waking. High-density electroencephalographic recordings revealed that successful verbal cueing during NonREM sleep is associated with a pronounced frontal negativity in event-related potentials, a higher frequency of frontal slow waves as well as a cueing-related increase in right frontal and left parietal oscillatory theta power. Our results indicate that verbal cues presented during NonREM sleep reactivate associated memories, and facilitate later recall of foreign vocabulary without impairing ongoing consolidation processes. Likewise, our oscillatory analysis suggests that both sleep-specific slow waves as well as theta oscillations (typically associated with successful memory encoding during wakefulness) might be involved in strengthening memories by cueing during sleep. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Sleep spindles and intelligence: evidence for a sexual dimorphism.

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Ujma, Péter P; Konrad, Boris Nikolai; Genzel, Lisa; Bleifuss, Annabell; Simor, Péter; Pótári, Adrián; Körmendi, János; Gombos, Ferenc; Steiger, Axel; Bódizs, Róbert; Dresler, Martin

2014-12-03

Sleep spindles are thalamocortical oscillations in nonrapid eye movement sleep, which play an important role in sleep-related neuroplasticity and offline information processing. Sleep spindle features are stable within and vary between individuals, with, for example, females having a higher number of spindles and higher spindle density than males. Sleep spindles have been associated with learning potential and intelligence; however, the details of this relationship have not been fully clarified yet. In a sample of 160 adult human subjects with a broad IQ range, we investigated the relationship between sleep spindle parameters and intelligence. In females, we found a positive age-corrected association between intelligence and fast sleep spindle amplitude in central and frontal derivations and a positive association between intelligence and slow sleep spindle duration in all except one derivation. In males, a negative association between intelligence and fast spindle density in posterior regions was found. Effects were continuous over the entire IQ range. Our results demonstrate that, although there is an association between sleep spindle parameters and intellectual performance, these effects are more modest than previously reported and mainly present in females. This supports the view that intelligence does not rely on a single neural framework, and stronger neural connectivity manifesting in increased thalamocortical oscillations in sleep is one particular mechanism typical for females but not males. Copyright © 2014 the authors 0270-6474/14/3416358-11$15.00/0.

NREM sleep architecture and relation to GH/IGF-1 axis in Laron syndrome.

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Verrillo, Elisabetta; Bizzarri, Carla; Cappa, Marco; Bruni, Oliviero; Pavone, Martino; Cutrera, Renato

2010-01-01

Laron syndrome (LS), known as growth hormone (GH) receptor deficiency, is a rare form of inherited GH resistance. Sleep disorders were described as a common feature of adult LS patients, while no data are available in children. Bi-directional interactions between human sleep and the somatotropic system were previously described, mainly between slow wave sleep and the nocturnal GH surge. To analyze the sleep macro- and microstructure in LS and to evaluate the influence of substitutive insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) therapy on it. Two young LS females underwent polysomnography; the first study was performed during IGF-1 therapy, the second one after a 3-month wash-out period. In both patients, the sleep macrostructure showed that time in bed, sleep period time, total sleep time, sleep efficiency and rapid eye movement (REM) percentage were all increased during wash-out. The sleep microstructure (cyclic alternating pattern: CAP) showed significantly higher EEG slow oscillations (A1%) in NREM sleep, both during IGF-1 therapy and wash-out. Sleep macrostructure in LS children is slightly affected by substitutive IGF-1 therapy. Sleep microstructure shows an increase of A1%, probably related to abnormally high hypothalamic GHRH secretion, due to GH insensitivity. Copyright 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel.

A review of short naps and sleep inertia: do naps of 30 min or less really avoid sleep inertia and slow-wave sleep?

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Hilditch, Cassie J; Dorrian, Jillian; Banks, Siobhan

2017-04-01

Napping is a widely used countermeasure to sleepiness and impaired performance caused by sleep loss and circadian pressure. Sleep inertia, the period of grogginess and impaired performance experienced after waking, is a potential side effect of napping. Many industry publications recommend naps of 30 min or less to avoid this side effect. However, the evidence to support this advice is yet to be thoroughly reviewed. Electronic databases were searched, and defined criteria were applied to select articles for review. The review covers literature on naps of 30 min or less regarding (a) sleep inertia, (b) slow-wave sleep (SWS) and (c) the relationship between sleep inertia and SWS. The review found that although the literature on short afternoon naps is relatively comprehensive, there are very few studies on naps of 30 min or less at night. Studies have mixed results regarding the onset of SWS and the duration and severity of sleep inertia following short naps, making guidelines regarding their use unclear. The varying results are likely due to differing sleep/wake profiles before the nap of interest and the time of the day at waking. The review highlights the need to have more detailed guidelines about the implementation of short naps according to the time of the day and prior sleep/wake history. Without this context, such a recommendation is potentially misleading. Further research is required to better understand the interactions between these factors, especially at night, and to provide more specific recommendations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Spontaneous high-frequency (10-80 Hz) oscillations during up states in the cerebral cortex in vitro.

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Compte, Albert; Reig, Ramon; Descalzo, Vanessa F; Harvey, Michael A; Puccini, Gabriel D; Sanchez-Vives, Maria V

2008-12-17

High-frequency oscillations in cortical networks have been linked to a variety of cognitive and perceptual processes. They have also been recorded in small cortical slices in vitro, indicating that neuronal synchronization at these frequencies is generated in the local cortical circuit. However, in vitro experiments have hitherto necessitated exogenous pharmacological or electrical stimulation to generate robust synchronized activity in the beta/gamma range. Here, we demonstrate that the isolated cortical microcircuitry generates beta and gamma oscillations spontaneously in the absence of externally applied neuromodulators or synaptic agonists. We show this in a spontaneously active slice preparation that engages in slow oscillatory activity similar to activity during slow-wave sleep. beta and gamma synchronization appeared during the up states of the slow oscillation. Simultaneous intracellular and extracellular recordings revealed synchronization between the timing of incoming synaptic events and population activity. This rhythm was mechanistically similar to pharmacologically induced gamma rhythms, as it also included sparse, irregular firing of neurons within the population oscillation, predominant involvement of inhibitory neurons, and a decrease of oscillation frequency after barbiturate application. Finally, we show in a computer model how a synaptic loop between excitatory and inhibitory neurons can explain the emergence of both the slow (network. We therefore conclude that oscillations in the beta/gamma range that share mechanisms with activity reported in vivo or in pharmacologically activated in vitro preparations can be generated during slow oscillatory activity in the local cortical circuit, even without exogenous pharmacological or electrical stimulation.

Transcranial electrical stimulation accelerates human sleep homeostasis.

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Davide Reato

Full Text Available The sleeping brain exhibits characteristic slow-wave activity which decays over the course of the night. This decay is thought to result from homeostatic synaptic downscaling. Transcranial electrical stimulation can entrain slow-wave oscillations (SWO in the human electro-encephalogram (EEG. A computational model of the underlying mechanism predicts that firing rates are predominantly increased during stimulation. Assuming that synaptic homeostasis is driven by average firing rates, we expected an acceleration of synaptic downscaling during stimulation, which is compensated by a reduced drive after stimulation. We show that 25 minutes of transcranial electrical stimulation, as predicted, reduced the decay of SWO in the remainder of the night. Anatomically accurate simulations of the field intensities on human cortex precisely matched the effect size in different EEG electrodes. Together these results suggest a mechanistic link between electrical stimulation and accelerated synaptic homeostasis in human sleep.

Transcranial direct current stimulation in refractory continuous spikes and waves during slow sleep: a controlled study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Varga, Edina T; Terney, Daniella; Atkins, Mary D

2011-01-01

Cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) decreases cortical excitability. The purpose of the study was to investigate whether cathodal tDCS could interrupt the continuous epileptiform activity. Five patients with focal, refractory continuous spikes and waves during slow sleep were...... recruited. Cathodal tDCS and sham stimulation were applied to the epileptic focus, before sleep (1 mA; 20 min). Cathodal tDCS did not reduce the spike-index in any of the patients....

Rapid Eye Movement Sleep, Sleep Continuity and Slow Wave Sleep as Predictors of Cognition, Mood, and Subjective Sleep Quality in Healthy Men and Women, Aged 20–84 Years

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Ciro della Monica

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Sleep and its sub-states are assumed to be important for brain function across the lifespan but which aspects of sleep associate with various aspects of cognition, mood and self-reported sleep quality has not yet been established in detail. Sleep was quantified by polysomnography, quantitative Electroencephalogram (EEG analysis and self-report in 206 healthy men and women, aged 20–84 years, without sleep complaints. Waking brain function was quantified by five assessments scheduled across the day covering objectively assessed performance across cognitive domains including sustained attention and arousal, decision and response time, motor and sequence control, working memory, and executive function as well as self-reports of alertness, mood and affect. Controlled for age and sex, self-reported sleep quality was negatively associated with number of awakenings and positively associated with the duration of Rapid Eye Movement (REM sleep, but no significant associations with Slow Wave Sleep (SWS measures were observed. Controlling only for age showed that associations between objective and subjective sleep quality were much stronger in women than in men. Analysis of 51 performance measures demonstrated that, after controlling for age and sex, fewer awakenings and more REM sleep were associated significantly with better performance on the Goal Neglect task, which is a test of executive function. Factor analysis of the individual performance measures identified four latent variables labeled Mood/Arousal, Response Time, Accuracy, and Visual Perceptual Sensitivity. Whereas Mood/Arousal improved with age, Response Times became slower, while Accuracy and Visual perceptual sensitivity showed little change with age. After controlling for sex and age, nominally significant association between sleep and factor scores were observed such that Response Times were faster with more SWS, and Accuracy was reduced where individuals woke more often or had less REM

Targeted memory reactivation during slow wave sleep facilitates emotional memory consolidation.

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Cairney, Scott A; Durrant, Simon J; Hulleman, Johan; Lewis, Penelope A

2014-04-01

To investigate the mechanisms by which auditory targeted memory reactivation (TMR) during slow wave sleep (SWS) influences the consolidation of emotionally negative and neutral memories. Each of 72 (36 negative, 36 neutral) picture-location associations were encoded with a semantically related sound. During a subsequent nap, half of the sounds were replayed in SWS, before picture-location recall was examined in a final test. Manchester Sleep Laboratory, University of Manchester. 15 adults (3 male) mean age = 20.40 (standard deviation ± 3.07). TMR with auditory cues during SWS. Performance was assessed by memory accuracy and recall response times (RTs). Data were analyzed with a 2 (sound: replayed/not replayed) × 2 (emotion: negative/neutral) repeated measures analysis of covariance with SWS duration, and then SWS spindles, as the mean-centered covariate. Both analyses revealed a significant three-way interaction for RTs but not memory accuracy. Critically, SWS duration and SWS spindles predicted faster memory judgments for negative, relative to neutral, picture locations that were cued with TMR. TMR initiates an enhanced consolidation process during subsequent SWS, wherein sleep spindles mediate the selective enhancement of reactivated emotional memories.

Hippocampal sleep features: relations to human memory function

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Michele eFerrara

2012-04-01

Full Text Available The recent spread of intracranial EEG recordings techniques for presurgical evaluation of drug-resistant epileptic patients is providing new information on the activity of different brain structures during both wakefulness and sleep. The interest has been mainly focused on the medial temporal lobe, and in particular the hippocampal formation, whose peculiar local sleep features have been recently described, providing support to the idea that sleep is not a spatially global phenomenon. The study of the hippocampal sleep electrophysiology is particularly interesting because of its central role in the declarative memory formation. Recent data indicate that sleep contributes to memory formation. Therefore, it is relevant to understand whether specific pattern of activity taking place during sleep are related to memory consolidation processes. Fascinating similarities between different states of consciousness (wakefulness, REM sleep, NREM sleep in some electrophysiological mechanisms underlying cognitive processes have been reported. For instance, large-scale synchrony in gamma activity is important for waking memory and perception processes, and its changes during sleep may be the neurophysiological substrate of sleep-related deficits of declarative memory. Hippocampal activity seems to specifically support memory consolidation during sleep, through specific coordinated neurophysiological events (slow waves, spindles, ripples that would facilitate the integration of new information into the pre-existing cortical networks. A few studies indeed provided direct evidence that rhinal ripples as well as slow hippocampal oscillations are correlated with memory consolidation in humans. More detailed electrophysiological investigations assessing the specific relations between different types of memory consolidation and hippocampal EEG features are in order. These studies will add an important piece of knowledge to the elucidation of the ultimate sleep

Hippocampal Sleep Features: Relations to Human Memory Function

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Ferrara, Michele; Moroni, Fabio; De Gennaro, Luigi; Nobili, Lino

2012-01-01

The recent spread of intracranial electroencephalographic (EEG) recording techniques for presurgical evaluation of drug-resistant epileptic patients is providing new information on the activity of different brain structures during both wakefulness and sleep. The interest has been mainly focused on the medial temporal lobe, and in particular the hippocampal formation, whose peculiar local sleep features have been recently described, providing support to the idea that sleep is not a spatially global phenomenon. The study of the hippocampal sleep electrophysiology is particularly interesting because of its central role in the declarative memory formation. Recent data indicate that sleep contributes to memory formation. Therefore, it is relevant to understand whether specific patterns of activity taking place during sleep are related to memory consolidation processes. Fascinating similarities between different states of consciousness (wakefulness, REM sleep, non-REM sleep) in some electrophysiological mechanisms underlying cognitive processes have been reported. For instance, large-scale synchrony in gamma activity is important for waking memory and perception processes, and its changes during sleep may be the neurophysiological substrate of sleep-related deficits of declarative memory. Hippocampal activity seems to specifically support memory consolidation during sleep, through specific coordinated neurophysiological events (slow waves, spindles, ripples) that would facilitate the integration of new information into the pre-existing cortical networks. A few studies indeed provided direct evidence that rhinal ripples as well as slow hippocampal oscillations are correlated with memory consolidation in humans. More detailed electrophysiological investigations assessing the specific relations between different types of memory consolidation and hippocampal EEG features are in order. These studies will add an important piece of knowledge to the elucidation of the ultimate

Cerebral correlates of delta waves during non-REM sleep revisited.

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Dang-Vu, Thien Thanh; Desseilles, Martin; Laureys, Steven; Degueldre, Christian; Perrin, Fabien; Phillips, Christophe; Maquet, Pierre; Peigneux, Philippe

2005-10-15

We aimed at characterizing the neural correlates of delta activity during Non Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) sleep in non-sleep-deprived normal young adults, based on the statistical analysis of a positron emission tomography (PET) sleep data set. One hundred fifteen PET scans were obtained using H(2)(15)O under continuous polygraphic monitoring during stages 2-4 of NREM sleep. Correlations between regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and delta power (1.5-4 Hz) spectral density were analyzed using statistical parametric mapping (SPM2). Delta power values obtained at central scalp locations negatively correlated during NREM sleep with rCBF in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, the basal forebrain, the striatum, the anterior insula, and the precuneus. These regions embrace the set of brain areas in which rCBF decreases during slow wave sleep (SWS) as compared to Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep and wakefulness (Maquet, P., Degueldre, C., Delfiore, G., Aerts, J., Peters, J.M., Luxen, A., Franck, G., 1997. Functional neuroanatomy of human slow wave sleep. J. Neurosci. 17, 2807-S2812), supporting the notion that delta activity is a valuable prominent feature of NREM sleep. A strong association was observed between rCBF in the ventromedial prefrontal regions and delta power, in agreement with electrophysiological studies. In contrast to the results of a previous PET study investigating the brain correlates of delta activity (Hofle, N., Paus, T., Reutens, D., Fiset, P., Gotman, J., Evans, A.C., Jones, B.E., 1997. Regional cerebral blood flow changes as a function of delta and spindle activity during slow wave sleep in humans. J. Neurosci. 17, 4800-4808), in which waking scans were mixed with NREM sleep scans, no correlation was found with thalamus activity. This latter result stresses the importance of an extra-thalamic delta rhythm among the synchronous NREM sleep oscillations. Consequently, this rCBF distribution might preferentially reflect a particular modulation of the

Is there a relation between EEG-slow waves and memory dysfunction in epilepsy? A critical appraisal.

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Höller eYvonne

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Is there a relationship between peri-ictal slow waves, loss of consciousness, memory, and slow wave sleep, in patients with different forms of epilepsy? We hypothesize that mechanisms which result in peri-ictal slow wave activity as detected by the electroencephalogram could negatively affect memory processes.Slow waves (≤ 4 Hz can be found in seizures with impairment of consciousness and also occur in focal seizures without impairment of consciousness but with inhibited access to memory functions. Peri-ictal slow waves are regarded as dysfunctional and are probably caused by mechanisms which are essential to disturb the consolidation of memory entries in these patients. This is in strong contrast to physiological slow wave activity during deep sleep, which is thought to group memory-consolidating fast oscillatory activity.In patients with epilepsy, slow waves may not only correlate with the peri-ictal clouding of consciousness, but could be the epiphenomenon of mechanisms which interfere with normal brain function in a wider range. These mechanisms may have transient impacts on memory, such as temporary inhibition of memory systems, altered patterns of hippocampal-neocortical interactions during slow wave sleep, or disturbed cross-frequency coupling of slow and fast oscillations. In addition, repeated tonic-clonic seizures over the years in uncontrolled chronic epilepsy may cause a progressive cognitive decline.This hypothesis can only be assessed in long term prospective studies. These studies could disentangle the reversible short-term impacts of seizures, and the impacts of chronic uncontrolled seizures. Chronic uncontrolled seizures lead to irreversible memory impairment. In contrast, short term impacts do not necessarily lead to a progressive cognitive decline but result in significantly impaired peri-ictal memory performance.

Self-excitation of microwave oscillations in plasma-assisted slow-wave oscillators by an electron beam with a movable focus

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Bliokh, Yu. P.; Nusinovich, G. S.; Shkvarunets, A. G.; Carmel, Y.

2004-10-01

Plasma-assisted slow-wave oscillators (pasotrons) operate without external magnetic fields, which makes these devices quite compact and lightweight. Beam focusing in pasotrons is provided by ions, which appear in the device due to the impact ionization of a neutral gas by beam electrons. Typically, the ionization time is on the order of the rise time of the beam current. This means that, during the rise of the current, beam focusing by ions becomes stronger. Correspondingly, a beam of electrons, which was initially diverging radially due to the self-electric field, starts to be focused by ions, and this focus moves towards the gun as the ion density increases. This feature makes the self-excitation of electromagnetic (em) oscillations in pasotrons quite different from practically all other microwave sources where em oscillations are excited by a stationary electron beam. The process of self-excitation of em oscillations has been studied both theoretically and experimentally. It is shown that in pasotrons, during the beam current rise the amount of current entering the interaction space and the beam coupling to the em field vary. As a result, the self-excitation can proceed faster than in conventional microwave sources with similar operating parameters such as the operating frequency, cavity quality-factor and the beam current and voltage.

Sleep spindles during a nap correlate with post sleep memory performance for highly rewarded word-pairs.

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Studte, Sara; Bridger, Emma; Mecklinger, Axel

2017-04-01

The consolidation of new associations is thought to depend in part on physiological processes engaged during non-REM (NREM) sleep, such as slow oscillations and sleep spindles. Moreover, NREM sleep is thought to selectively benefit associations that are adaptive for the future. In line with this, the current study investigated whether different reward cues at encoding are associated with changes in sleep physiology and memory retention. Participants' associative memory was tested after learning a list of arbitrarily paired words both before and after taking a 90-min nap. During learning, word-pairs were preceded by a cue indicating either a high or a low reward for correct memory performance at test. The motivation manipulation successfully impacted retention such that memory declined to a greater extent from pre- to post sleep for low rewarded than for high rewarded word-pairs. In line with previous studies, positive correlations between spindle density during NREM sleep and general memory performance pre- and post-sleep were found. In addition to this, however, a selective positive relationship between memory performance for highly rewarded word-pairs at posttest and spindle density during NREM sleep was also observed. These results support the view that motivationally salient memories are preferentially consolidated and that sleep spindles may be an important underlying mechanism for selective consolidation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Impaired memory consolidation in children with obstructive sleep disordered breathing.

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Kiran Maski

Full Text Available Memory consolidation is stabilized and even enhanced by sleep (and particularly by 12-15 Hz sleep spindles in NREM stage 2 sleep in healthy children but it is unclear what happens to these processes when sleep is disturbed by obstructive sleep disordered breathing. This cross-sectional study investigates differences in declarative memory consolidation among children with primary snoring (PS and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA compared to controls. We further investigate whether memory consolidation group differences are associated with NREM stage 2 (N2 sigma (12-15 Hz or NREM slow oscillation (0.5-1 Hz spectral power bands. In this study, we trained and tested participants on a spatial declarative memory task with cued recall. Retest occurred after a period of daytime wake (Wake or a night of sleep (Sleep with in-lab polysomnography. 36 participants ages 5-9 years completed the protocol: 14 with OSA as defined by respiratory disturbance index (RDI > 1/hour, 12 with primary snoring (PS and 10 controls. OSA participants had poorer overall memory consolidation than controls across Wake and Sleep conditions [OSA: mean = -18.7% (5.8, controls: mean = 1.9% (7.2, t = -2.20, P = 0.04]. In contrast, PS participants and controls had comparable memory consolidation across conditions (t = 0.41; P = 0.38. We did not detect a main effect for condition (Sleep, Wake or group x condition interaction on memory consolidation. OSA participants had lower N2 sigma power than PS (P = 0.03 and controls (P = 0.004 and N2 sigma power inversely correlated with percentage of time snoring on the study night (r = -0.33, P<0.05. Across all participants, N2 sigma power modestly correlated with memory consolidation in both Sleep (r = 0.37, P = 0.03 and Wake conditions (r = 0.44, P = 0.009. Further observed variable path analysis showed that N2 sigma power mediated the relationship between group and mean memory consolidation across Sleep and Wake states [Bindirect = 6.76(3.5, z = 2

Levels of Interference in Long and Short-Term Memory Differentially Modulate Non-REM and REM Sleep.

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Fraize, Nicolas; Carponcy, Julien; Joseph, Mickaël Antoine; Comte, Jean-Christophe; Luppi, Pierre-Hervé; Libourel, Paul-Antoine; Salin, Paul-Antoine; Malleret, Gaël; Parmentier, Régis

2016-12-01

It is commonly accepted that sleep is beneficial to memory processes, but it is still unclear if this benefit originates from improved memory consolidation or enhanced information processing. It has thus been proposed that sleep may also promote forgetting of undesirable and non-essential memories, a process required for optimization of cognitive resources. We tested the hypothesis that non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREMS) promotes forgetting of irrelevant information, more specifically when processing information in working memory (WM), while REM sleep (REMS) facilitates the consolidation of important information. We recorded sleep patterns of rats trained in a radial maze in three different tasks engaging either the long-term or short-term storage of information, as well as a gradual level of interference. We observed a transient increase in REMS amount on the day the animal learned the rule of a long-term/reference memory task (RM), and, in contrast, a positive correlation between the performance of rats trained in a WM task involving an important processing of interference and the amount of NREMS or slow wave activity. Various oscillatory events were also differentially modulated by the type of training involved. Notably, NREMS spindles and REMS rapid theta increase with RM training, while sharp-wave ripples increase with all types of training. These results suggest that REMS, but also rapid oscillations occurring during NREMS would be specifically implicated in the long-term memory in RM, whereas NREMS and slow oscillations could be involved in the forgetting of irrelevant information required for WM. © 2016 Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC.

Exaggerated heart rate oscillations during two meditation techniques.

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Peng, C K; Mietus, J E; Liu, Y; Khalsa, G; Douglas, P S; Benson, H; Goldberger, A L

1999-07-31

We report extremely prominent heart rate oscillations associated with slow breathing during specific traditional forms of Chinese Chi and Kundalini Yoga meditation techniques in healthy young adults. We applied both spectral analysis and a novel analytic technique based on the Hilbert transform to quantify these heart rate dynamics. The amplitude of these oscillations during meditation was significantly greater than in the pre-meditation control state and also in three non-meditation control groups: i) elite athletes during sleep, ii) healthy young adults during metronomic breathing, and iii) healthy young adults during spontaneous nocturnal breathing. This finding, along with the marked variability of the beat-to-beat heart rate dynamics during such profound meditative states, challenges the notion of meditation as only an autonomically quiescent state.

A tapered multi-gap multi-aperture pseudospark-sourced electron gun based X-band slow wave oscillator

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Kumar, N.; Lamba, R. P.; Hossain, A. M.; Pal, U. N.; Phelps, A. D. R.; Prakash, R.

2017-11-01

The experimental study of a tapered, multi-gap, multi-aperture pseudospark-sourced electron gun based X-band plasma assisted slow wave oscillator is presented. The designed electron gun is based on the pseudospark discharge concept and has been used to generate a high current density and high energy electron beam simultaneously. The distribution of apertures has been arranged such that the field penetration potency inside the backspace of the hollow-cathode is different while passing through the tapered gap region. This leads to non-concurrent ignition of the discharge through all the channels which is, in general, quite challenging in the case of multi-aperture plasma cathode electron gun geometries. Multiple and successive hollow cathode phases are reported from this electron gun geometry, which have been confirmed using simulations. This geometry also has led to the achievement of ˜71% fill factor inside the slow wave oscillator for an electron beam of energy of 20 keV and a beam current density in the range of 115-190 A/cm2 at a working argon gas pressure of 18 Pa. The oscillator has generated broadband microwave output in the frequency range of 10-11.7 GHz with a peak power of ˜10 kW for ˜50 ns.

The dream-lag effect: Selective processing of personally significant events during Rapid Eye Movement sleep, but not during Slow Wave Sleep.

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van Rijn, E; Eichenlaub, J-B; Lewis, P A; Walker, M P; Gaskell, M G; Malinowski, J E; Blagrove, M

2015-07-01

Incorporation of details from waking life events into Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep dreams has been found to be highest on the night after, and then 5-7 nights after events (termed, respectively, the day-residue and dream-lag effects). In experiment 1, 44 participants kept a daily log for 10 days, reporting major daily activities (MDAs), personally significant events (PSEs), and major concerns (MCs). Dream reports were collected from REM and Slow Wave Sleep (SWS) in the laboratory, or from REM sleep at home. The dream-lag effect was found for the incorporation of PSEs into REM dreams collected at home, but not for MDAs or MCs. No dream-lag effect was found for SWS dreams, or for REM dreams collected in the lab after SWS awakenings earlier in the night. In experiment 2, the 44 participants recorded reports of their spontaneously recalled home dreams over the 10 nights following the instrumental awakenings night, which thus acted as a controlled stimulus with two salience levels, high (sleep lab) and low (home awakenings). The dream-lag effect was found for the incorporation into home dreams of references to the experience of being in the sleep laboratory, but only for participants who had reported concerns beforehand about being in the sleep laboratory. The delayed incorporation of events from daily life into dreams has been proposed to reflect REM sleep-dependent memory consolidation. However, an alternative emotion processing or emotional impact of events account, distinct from memory consolidation, is supported by the finding that SWS dreams do not evidence the dream-lag effect. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Brain and muscle oxygenation monitoring using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) during all-night sleep

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Zhang, Zhongxing; Khatami, Ramin

2013-03-01

The hemodynamic changes during natural human sleep are still not well understood. NIRS is ideally suited for monitoring the hemodynamic changes during sleep due to the properties of local measurement, totally safe application and good tolerance to motion. Several studies have been conducted using NIRS in both normal subjects and patients with various sleep disorders during sleep to characterize the hemodynamic changing patterns during different sleep stages and during different symptoms such as obstructive apneas. Here we assessed brain and muscle oxygenation changes in 7 healthy adults during all-night sleep with combined polysomnography measurement to test the notion if hemodynamic changes in sleep are indeed brain specific. We found that muscle and brain showed similar hemodynamic changes during sleep initiation. A decrease in HbO2 and tissue oxygenation index (TOI) while an increase in HHb was observed immediately after sleep onset, and an opposite trend was found after transition with progression to deeper slow-wave sleep (SWS) stage. Spontaneous low frequency oscillations (LFO) and very low frequency oscillations (VLFO) were smaller (Levene's test, psleep (LS) and rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep in both brain and muscle. Spectral analysis of the NIRS signals measured from brain and muscle also showed reductions in VLFO and LFO powers during SWS with respect to LS and REM sleep. These results indicate a systemic attenuation rather than local cerebral reduction of spontaneous hemodynamic activity in SWS. A systemic physiological mechanism may exist to regulate the hemodynamic changes in brain and muscle during sleep.

The Relationship between Respiration-Related Membrane Potential Slow Oscillations and Discharge Patterns in Mitral/Tufted Cells: What Are the Rules?

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Briffaud, Virginie; Fourcaud-Trocmé, Nicolas; Messaoudi, Belkacem; Buonviso, Nathalie; Amat, Corine

2012-01-01

Background A slow respiration-related rhythm strongly shapes the activity of the olfactory bulb. This rhythm appears as a slow oscillation that is detectable in the membrane potential, the respiration-related spike discharge of the mitral/tufted cells and the bulbar local field potential. Here, we investigated the rules that govern the manifestation of membrane potential slow oscillations (MPSOs) and respiration-related discharge activities under various afferent input conditions and cellular excitability states. Methodology and Principal Findings We recorded the intracellular membrane potential signals in the mitral/tufted cells of freely breathing anesthetized rats. We first demonstrated the existence of multiple types of MPSOs, which were influenced by odor stimulation and discharge activity patterns. Complementary studies using changes in the intracellular excitability state and a computational model of the mitral cell demonstrated that slow oscillations in the mitral/tufted cell membrane potential were also modulated by the intracellular excitability state, whereas the respiration-related spike activity primarily reflected the afferent input. Based on our data regarding MPSOs and spike patterns, we found that cells exhibiting an unsynchronized discharge pattern never exhibited an MPSO. In contrast, cells with a respiration-synchronized discharge pattern always exhibited an MPSO. In addition, we demonstrated that the association between spike patterns and MPSO types appeared complex. Conclusion We propose that both the intracellular excitability state and input strength underlie specific MPSOs, which, in turn, constrain the types of spike patterns exhibited. PMID:22952828

Pediatric sleep apnea

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Sleep apnea - pediatric; Apnea - pediatric sleep apnea syndrome; Sleep-disordered breathing - pediatric ... Untreated pediatric sleep apnea may lead to: High blood pressure Heart or lung problems Slow growth and development

Effects of Aging on Cortical Neural Dynamics and Local Sleep Homeostasis in Mice.

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McKillop, Laura E; Fisher, Simon P; Cui, Nanyi; Peirson, Stuart N; Foster, Russell G; Wafford, Keith A; Vyazovskiy, Vladyslav V

2018-04-18

Healthy aging is associated with marked effects on sleep, including its daily amount and architecture, as well as the specific EEG oscillations. Neither the neurophysiological underpinnings nor the biological significance of these changes are understood, and crucially the question remains whether aging is associated with reduced sleep need or a diminished capacity to generate sufficient sleep. Here we tested the hypothesis that aging may affect local cortical networks, disrupting the capacity to generate and sustain sleep oscillations, and with it the local homeostatic response to sleep loss. We performed chronic recordings of cortical neural activity and local field potentials from the motor cortex in young and older male C57BL/6J mice, during spontaneous waking and sleep, as well as during sleep after sleep deprivation. In older animals, we observed an increase in the incidence of non-rapid eye movement sleep local field potential slow waves and their associated neuronal silent (OFF) periods, whereas the overall pattern of state-dependent cortical neuronal firing was generally similar between ages. Furthermore, we observed that the response to sleep deprivation at the level of local cortical network activity was not affected by aging. Our data thus suggest that the local cortical neural dynamics and local sleep homeostatic mechanisms, at least in the motor cortex, are not impaired during healthy senescence in mice. This indicates that powerful protective or compensatory mechanisms may exist to maintain neuronal function stable across the life span, counteracting global changes in sleep amount and architecture. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The biological significance of age-dependent changes in sleep is unknown but may reflect either a diminished sleep need or a reduced capacity to generate deep sleep stages. As aging has been linked to profound disruptions in cortical sleep oscillations and because sleep need is reflected in specific patterns of cortical activity, we

THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF SLEEP AND WAKEFULNESS

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Schwartz, Michael D.; Kilduff, Thomas S.

2015-01-01

SYNOPSIS Since the discovery of Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep in the late 1950s, identification of the neural circuitry underlying wakefulness, sleep onset and the alternation between REM and non-REM (NREM) sleep has been an active area of investigation. Synchronization and desynchronization of cortical activity as detected in the electroencephalogram (EEG) is due to a corticothalamocortical loop, intrinsic cortical oscillators, monoaminergic and cholinergic afferent input to the thalamus, and the basal forebrain cholinergic input directly to the cortex. The monoaminergic and cholinergic systems are largely wake-promoting; the brainstem cholinergic nuclei are also involved in REM sleep regulation. These wake-promoting systems receive excitatory input from the hypothalamic hypocretin/orexin system. Sleep-promoting nuclei are GABAergic in nature and found in the preoptic area, brainstem and lateral hypothalamus. Although the pons is critical for the expression of REM sleep, recent research has suggested that melanin-concentrating hormone/GABAergic cells in the lateral hypothalamus "gate" REM sleep. The temporal distribution of sleep and wakefulness is due to interaction between the circadian system and the sleep homeostatic system. Although the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nuclei contain the circadian pacemaker, the neural circuitry underlying the sleep homeostat is less clear. Prolonged wakefulness results in the accumulation of extracellular adenosine, possibly from glial sources, which is an important feedback molecule for the sleep homeostatic system. Cortical neuronal nitric oxide (nNOS) neurons may also play a role in propagating slow waves through the cortex in NREM sleep. Several neuropeptides and other neurochemicals likely play important roles in sleep/wake control. Although the control of sleep and wakefulness seemingly involves multiple redundant systems, each of these systems provides a vulnerability that can result in sleep/wake dysfunction that may

Retrieval of recent autobiographical memories is associated with slow-wave sleep in early AD.

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Géraldine eRAUCHS

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Autobiographical memory is commonly impaired in Alzheimer’s disease (AD. However, little is known about the very recent past which is though highly important in daily life adaptation. In addition, the impact of sleep disturbances, also frequently reported in AD, on the consolidation and retrieval of autobiographical memories remains to be assessed. Using an adaptation of the TEMPau task, we investigated the neural substrates of autobiographical memory for recent events and the potential relationship with sleep in 14 patients with mild AD. On day 1, autobiographical memory was explored across 3 periods: remote (18-30 years, the last two years and the last month. After testing, sleep was recorded using polysomnography. The next day, AD patients benefited a resting state 18FDG-PET scan and a second exploration of autobiographical memory, focusing on the very recent past (today and yesterday. Total recall and episodic recall scores were obtained. In addition, for all events recalled, Remember responses justified by specific factual, spatial and temporal details were measured using the Remember/Know paradigm. Retrieval of autobiographical memories was impaired in AD, but recall of young adulthood and very recent events was relatively better compared to the two intermediate periods. Recall of recent events (experienced the day and the day preceding the assessment was correlated with brain glucose consumption in the precuneus and retrosplenial cortex, the calcarine region, the angular gyrus and lateral temporal areas. AD patients also provided more Justified Remember responses for events experienced the previous day than for those experienced the day of the assessment. Moreover, Justified Remember responses obtained for events experienced before sleep were positively correlated with the amount of slow-wave sleep. These data provide the first evidence of an association between the ability to retrieve recent autobiographical memories and sleep in mild

The effects of leptin on REM sleep and slow wave delta in rats are reversed by food deprivation.

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Sinton, C M; Fitch, T E; Gershenfeld, H K

1999-09-01

Leptin (ob protein) is an adipose tissue derived circulating hormone that acts at specific receptors in the hypothalamus to reduce food intake. The protein is also critically involved in energy balance and metabolic status. Here the effect of leptin on sleep architecture in rats was evaluated because food consumption and metabolic status are known to influence sleep. Sprague-Dawley rats were chronically implanted with electrodes for EEG and EMG recording and diurnal sleep parameters were quantified over 9-h periods following leptin administration. Murine recombinant leptin (rMuLep) was administered systemically to rats that either had undergone 18 h of prior food deprivation or had received food ad libitum. In the normally fed rats, leptin significantly decreased the duration of rapid eye movement sleep (REMS) by about 30% and increased the duration of slow wave sleep (SWS) by about 13%, the latter effect reflecting enhanced power in the delta frequency band. These results are consistent with studies that have linked changes in metabolic rate with effects on sleep. Leptin administration has previously been shown to alter neuroendocrine parameters that could have mediated these changes in sleep architecture. Unexpectedly, prior food deprivation negated the effect of leptin on both REMS and SWS, a result that emphasizes the significance of the apparent coupling between sleep parameters and energy status.

Neonatal thalamic hemorrhage is strongly associated with electrical status epilepticus in slow wave sleep.

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Kersbergen, Karina J; de Vries, Linda S; Leijten, Frans S S; Braun, Kees P J; Nievelstein, Rutger A J; Groenendaal, Floris; Benders, Manon J N L; Jansen, Floor E

2013-04-01

Thalamic hemorrhage has been associated with neonatal cerebral sinovenous thrombosis (CSVT), especially when the straight sinus is involved, and often presents with neonatal seizures. Early thalamic injury has previously been shown to predispose to epilepsy and electrical status epilepticus in slow wave sleep (ESES). The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of sleep-induced epileptic electroencephalography (EEG) abnormalities and postneonatal epilepsy after neonatal thalamic hemorrhage associated with CSVT, in the absence of more widespread cerebral damage. Between 2003 and 2008 15 neonates were diagnosed with a thalamic hemorrhage due to suspected or proven CSVT. Neurodevelopment and the history of seizures were assessed at follow-up in the outpatient clinic in all 14 survivors (age 2-9 years). Whole-night or sleep-deprived EEG recordings were obtained to assess the prevalence of interictal epileptiform activity (EA) and calculate a sleep-induced spike and wave index (SWI). Three children were diagnosed with classic ESES (SWI >85%). Two children had ESES spectrum disorder (SWI between 50% and 85%), and in two children significant sleep-induced epileptiform activity (SIEA) was noted (SWI between 25% and 50%). Two other children were diagnosed with focal epilepsy, in the absence of sleep-induced epileptiform EEG abnormalities. Five children (age 2-7 years) had normal EEG recordings at follow-up. Deficits in neurodevelopment were seen significantly more often in children with ESES, ESES spectrum, or SIEA. Neonates with thalamic hemorrhage associated with straight sinus thrombosis, without evidence of more widespread cerebral damage, are at high risk of developing ESES (spectrum) disorder (35%), SIEA (14%), or focal epilepsy (14%). Electrographic abnormalities may already be present prior to recognition of cognitive deficits. Early diagnosis may guide parents and caregivers, and subsequent treatment may improve neurodevelopmental outcome. Routine

Topography of Slow Sigma Power during Sleep is Associated with Processing Speed in Preschool Children.

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Doucette, Margaret R; Kurth, Salome; Chevalier, Nicolas; Munakata, Yuko; LeBourgeois, Monique K

2015-11-04

Cognitive development is influenced by maturational changes in processing speed, a construct reflecting the rapidity of executing cognitive operations. Although cognitive ability and processing speed are linked to spindles and sigma power in the sleep electroencephalogram (EEG), little is known about such associations in early childhood, a time of major neuronal refinement. We calculated EEG power for slow (10-13 Hz) and fast (13.25-17 Hz) sigma power from all-night high-density electroencephalography (EEG) in a cross-sectional sample of healthy preschool children (n = 10, 4.3 ± 1.0 years). Processing speed was assessed as simple reaction time. On average, reaction time was 1409 ± 251 ms; slow sigma power was 4.0 ± 1.5 μV²; and fast sigma power was 0.9 ± 0.2 μV². Both slow and fast sigma power predominated over central areas. Only slow sigma power was correlated with processing speed in a large parietal electrode cluster (p power predicted faster reaction time. Our findings indicate regional correlates between sigma power and processing speed that are specific to early childhood and provide novel insights into the neurobiological features of the EEG that may underlie developing cognitive abilities.

Reduction of nocturnal slow-wave activity affects daytime vigilance lapses and memory encoding but not reaction time or implicit learning.

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Van Der Werf, Ysbrand D; Altena, Ellemarije; Vis, José C; Koene, Teddy; Van Someren, Eus J W

2011-01-01

Total sleep deprivation in healthy subjects has a profound effect on the performance on tasks measuring sustained attention or vigilance. We here report how a selective disruption of deep sleep only, that is, selective slow-wave activity (SWA) reduction, affects the performance of healthy well-sleeping subjects on several tasks: a "simple" and a "complex" vigilance task, a declarative learning task, and an implicit learning task despite unchanged duration of sleep. We used automated electroencephalogram (EEG) dependent acoustic feedback aimed at selective interference with-and reduction of-SWA. In a within-subject repeated measures crossover design, performance on the tasks was assessed in 13 elderly adults without sleep complaints after either SWA-reduction or after normal sleep. The number of vigilance lapses increased as a result of SWA reduction, irrespective of the type of vigilance task. Recognition on the declarative memory task was also affected by SWA reduction, associated with a decreased activation of the right hippocampus on encoding (measured with fMRI) suggesting a weaker memory trace. SWA reduction, however, did not affect reaction time on either of the vigilance tasks or implicit memory task performance. These findings suggest a specific role of slow oscillations in the subsequent daytime ability to maintain sustained attention and to encode novel declarative information but not to maintain response speed or to build implicit memories. Of particular interest is that selective SWA reduction can mimic some of the effects of total sleep deprivation, while not affecting sleep duration. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Ostriches sleep like platypuses.

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John A Lesku

Full Text Available Mammals and birds engage in two distinct states of sleep, slow wave sleep (SWS and rapid eye movement (REM sleep. SWS is characterized by slow, high amplitude brain waves, while REM sleep is characterized by fast, low amplitude waves, known as activation, occurring with rapid eye movements and reduced muscle tone. However, monotremes (platypuses and echidnas, the most basal (or 'ancient' group of living mammals, show only a single sleep state that combines elements of SWS and REM sleep, suggesting that these states became temporally segregated in the common ancestor to marsupial and eutherian mammals. Whether sleep in basal birds resembles that of monotremes or other mammals and birds is unknown. Here, we provide the first description of brain activity during sleep in ostriches (Struthio camelus, a member of the most basal group of living birds. We found that the brain activity of sleeping ostriches is unique. Episodes of REM sleep were delineated by rapid eye movements, reduced muscle tone, and head movements, similar to those observed in other birds and mammals engaged in REM sleep; however, during REM sleep in ostriches, forebrain activity would flip between REM sleep-like activation and SWS-like slow waves, the latter reminiscent of sleep in the platypus. Moreover, the amount of REM sleep in ostriches is greater than in any other bird, just as in platypuses, which have more REM sleep than other mammals. These findings reveal a recurring sequence of steps in the evolution of sleep in which SWS and REM sleep arose from a single heterogeneous state that became temporally segregated into two distinct states. This common trajectory suggests that forebrain activation during REM sleep is an evolutionarily new feature, presumably involved in performing new sleep functions not found in more basal animals.

CAP, epilepsy and motor events during sleep: the unifying role of arousal.

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Parrino, Liborio; Halasz, Peter; Tassinari, Carlo Alberto; Terzano, Mario Giovanni

2006-08-01

Arousal systems play a topical neurophysiologic role in protecting and tailoring sleep duration and depth. When they appear in NREM sleep, arousal responses are not limited to a single EEG pattern but are part of a continuous spectrum of EEG modifications ranging from high-voltage slow rhythms to low amplitude fast activities. The hierarchic features of arousal responses are reflected in the phase A subtypes of CAP (cyclic alternating pattern) including both slow arousals (dominated by the ASDA arousals). CAP is an infraslow oscillation with a periodicity of 20-40s that participates in the dynamic organization of sleep and in the activation of motor events. Physiologic, paraphysiologic and pathologic motor activities during NREM sleep are always associated with a stereotyped arousal pattern characterized by an initial increase in EEG delta power and heart rate, followed by a progressive activation of faster EEG frequencies. These findings suggest that motor patterns are already written in the brain codes (central pattern generators) embraced with an automatic sequence of EEG-vegetative events, but require a certain degree of activation (arousal) to become visibly apparent. Arousal can appear either spontaneously or be elicited by internal (epileptic burst) or external (noise, respiratory disturbance) stimuli. Whether the outcome is a physiologic movement, a muscle jerk or a major epileptic attack will depend on a number of ongoing factors (sleep stage, delta power, neuro-motor network) but all events share the common trait of arousal-activated phenomena.

Sustained sleep fragmentation induces sleep homeostasis in mice

KAUST Repository

Baud, Maxime O.; Magistretti, Pierre J.; Petit, Jean Marie

2015-01-01

Study Objectives: Sleep fragmentation (SF) is an integral feature of sleep apnea and other prevalent sleep disorders. Although the effect of repetitive arousals on cognitive performance is well documented, the effects of long-term SF on electroencephalography (EEG) and molecular markers of sleep homeostasis remain poorly investigated. To address this question, we developed a mouse model of chronic SF and characterized its effect on EEG spectral frequencies and the expression of genes previously linked to sleep homeostasis including clock genes, heat shock proteins, and plasticity-related genes. Design: N/A. Setting: Animal sleep research laboratory. Participants : Sixty-six C57BL6/J adult mice. Interventions: Instrumental sleep disruption at a rate of 60/h during 14 days Measurements and Results: Locomotor activity and EEG were recorded during 14 days of SF followed by recovery for 2 days. Despite a dramatic number of arousals and decreased sleep bout duration, SF minimally reduced total quantity of sleep and did not significantly alter its circadian distribution. Spectral analysis during SF revealed a homeostatic drive for slow wave activity (SWA; 1-4 Hz) and other frequencies as well (4-40 Hz). Recordings during recovery revealed slow wave sleep consolidation and a transient rebound in SWA, and paradoxical sleep duration. The expression of selected genes was not induced following chronic SF. Conclusions: Chronic sleep fragmentation (SF) increased sleep pressure confirming that altered quality with preserved quantity triggers core sleep homeostasis mechanisms. However, it did not induce the expression of genes induced by sleep loss, suggesting that these molecular pathways are not sustainably activated in chronic diseases involving SF.

Sustained sleep fragmentation induces sleep homeostasis in mice

KAUST Repository

Baud, Maxime O.

2015-04-01

Study Objectives: Sleep fragmentation (SF) is an integral feature of sleep apnea and other prevalent sleep disorders. Although the effect of repetitive arousals on cognitive performance is well documented, the effects of long-term SF on electroencephalography (EEG) and molecular markers of sleep homeostasis remain poorly investigated. To address this question, we developed a mouse model of chronic SF and characterized its effect on EEG spectral frequencies and the expression of genes previously linked to sleep homeostasis including clock genes, heat shock proteins, and plasticity-related genes. Design: N/A. Setting: Animal sleep research laboratory. Participants : Sixty-six C57BL6/J adult mice. Interventions: Instrumental sleep disruption at a rate of 60/h during 14 days Measurements and Results: Locomotor activity and EEG were recorded during 14 days of SF followed by recovery for 2 days. Despite a dramatic number of arousals and decreased sleep bout duration, SF minimally reduced total quantity of sleep and did not significantly alter its circadian distribution. Spectral analysis during SF revealed a homeostatic drive for slow wave activity (SWA; 1-4 Hz) and other frequencies as well (4-40 Hz). Recordings during recovery revealed slow wave sleep consolidation and a transient rebound in SWA, and paradoxical sleep duration. The expression of selected genes was not induced following chronic SF. Conclusions: Chronic sleep fragmentation (SF) increased sleep pressure confirming that altered quality with preserved quantity triggers core sleep homeostasis mechanisms. However, it did not induce the expression of genes induced by sleep loss, suggesting that these molecular pathways are not sustainably activated in chronic diseases involving SF.

Initiation of sleep-dependent cortical-hippocampal correlations at wakefulness-sleep transition.

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Haggerty, Daniel C; Ji, Daoyun

2014-10-01

Sleep is involved in memory consolidation. Current theories propose that sleep-dependent memory consolidation requires active communication between the hippocampus and neocortex. Indeed, it is known that neuronal activities in the hippocampus and various neocortical areas are correlated during slow-wave sleep. However, transitioning from wakefulness to slow-wave sleep is a gradual process. How the hippocampal-cortical correlation is established during the wakefulness-sleep transition is unknown. By examining local field potentials and multiunit activities in the rat hippocampus and visual cortex, we show that the wakefulness-sleep transition is characterized by sharp-wave ripple events in the hippocampus and high-voltage spike-wave events in the cortex, both of which are accompanied by highly synchronized multiunit activities in the corresponding area. Hippocampal ripple events occur earlier than the cortical high-voltage spike-wave events, and hippocampal ripple incidence is attenuated by the onset of cortical high-voltage spike waves. This attenuation leads to a temporary weak correlation in the hippocampal-cortical multiunit activities, which eventually evolves to a strong correlation as the brain enters slow-wave sleep. The results suggest that the hippocampal-cortical correlation is established through a concerted, two-step state change that first synchronizes the neuronal firing within each brain area and then couples the synchronized activities between the two regions. Copyright © 2014 the American Physiological Society.

Reduction in Cortical Gamma Synchrony during Depolarized State of Slow Wave Activity in Mice

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EUNJIN eHWANG

2013-12-01

Full Text Available EEG gamma band oscillations have been proposed to account for the neural synchronization crucial for perceptual integration. While increased gamma power and synchronization is generally observed during cognitive tasks performed during wake, several studies have additionally reported increased gamma power during sleep or anesthesia, raising questions about the characteristics of gamma oscillation during impaired consciousness and its role in conscious processing. Phase-amplitude modulation has been observed between slow wave activity (SWA, 0.5–4 Hz and gamma oscillations during ketamine/xylazine anesthesia or sleep, showing increased gamma activity corresponding to the depolarized (ON state of SWA. Here we divided gamma activity into its ON and OFF (hyperpolarized state components based on the phase of SWA induced by ketamine/xylazine anesthesia and compared their power and synchrony with wake state levels in mice. We further investigated the state-dependent changes in both gamma power and synchrony across primary motor and primary somatosensory cortical regions and their interconnected thalamic regions throughout anesthesia and recovery. As observed previously, gamma power was as high as during wake specifically during the ON state of SWA. However, the synchrony of this gamma activity between somatosensory-motor cortical regions was significantly reduced compared to the baseline wake state. In addition, the somatosensory-motor cortical synchrony of gamma oscillations was reduced and restored in an anesthetic state-dependent manner, reflecting the changing depth of anesthesia. Our results provide evidence that during anesthesia changes in long-range information integration between cortical regions might be more critical for changes in consciousness than changes in local gamma oscillatory power.

The role of serotonin and norepinephrine in sleep-waking activity.

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Morgane, P J; Stern, W C

1975-11-01

A critical review of the evidences relating the biogenic amines serotonin and norepinephrine to the states of slow-wave and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is presented. Various alternative explanations for specific chemical regulation of the individual sleep states, including the phasic events of REM sleep, are evaluated within the overall framework of the monoamine theory of sleep. Several critical neuropsychopharmacological studies relating to metabolsim of the amines in relation to sleep-waking behavior are presented. Models of the chemical neuronal circuitry involved in sleep-waking activity are derived and interactions between several brainstem nuclei, particularly the raphé complex and locus coeruleus, are discussed. Activity in these aminergic systems in relation to oscillations in the sleep-waking cycles is evaluated. In particular, the assessment of single cell activity in specific chemical systems in relations to chemical models of sleep is reviewed. Overall, it appears that the biogenic amines, especially serotonin and norepinephrine, play key roles in the generation and maintenance of the sleep states. These neurotransmitters participate in some manner in the "triggering" processes necessary for actuating each sleep phase and in regulating the transitions from sleep to waking activity. The biogenic amines are, however, probably not "sleep factors" or direct inducers of the sleep states. Rather, they appear to be components of a multiplicity of interacting chemical circuitry in the brain whose activity maintains various chemical balances in different brain regions. Shifts in these balances appear to be involved in the triggering and maintenance of the various states comprising the vigilance continuum.

Modulation of thalamocortical oscillations by TRIP8b, an auxiliary subunit for HCN channels.

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Zobeiri, Mehrnoush; Chaudhary, Rahul; Datunashvili, Maia; Heuermann, Robert J; Lüttjohann, Annika; Narayanan, Venu; Balfanz, Sabine; Meuth, Patrick; Chetkovich, Dane M; Pape, Hans-Christian; Baumann, Arnd; van Luijtelaar, Gilles; Budde, Thomas

2018-04-01

Hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated cation (HCN) channels have important functions in controlling neuronal excitability and generating rhythmic oscillatory activity. The role of tetratricopeptide repeat-containing Rab8b-interacting protein (TRIP8b) in regulation of hyperpolarization-activated inward current, I h , in the thalamocortical system and its functional relevance for the physiological thalamocortical oscillations were investigated. A significant decrease in I h current density, in both thalamocortical relay (TC) and cortical pyramidal neurons was found in TRIP8b-deficient mice (TRIP8b -/- ). In addition basal cAMP levels in the brain were found to be decreased while the availability of the fast transient A-type K + current, I A , in TC neurons was increased. These changes were associated with alterations in intrinsic properties and firing patterns of TC neurons, as well as intrathalamic and thalamocortical network oscillations, revealing a significant increase in slow oscillations in the delta frequency range (0.5-4 Hz) during episodes of active-wakefulness. In addition, absence of TRIP8b suppresses the normal desynchronization response of the EEG during the switch from slow-wave sleep to wakefulness. It is concluded that TRIP8b is necessary for the modulation of physiological thalamocortical oscillations due to its direct effect on HCN channel expression in thalamus and cortex and that mechanisms related to reduced cAMP signaling may contribute to the present findings.

Neurocognitive and neurobehavioral disabilities in Epilepsy with Electrical Status Epilepticus in slow sleep (ESES) and related syndromes.

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Raha, Sarbani; Shah, Urvashi; Udani, Vrajesh

2012-11-01

The aims of this study were to assess the cognitive and behavioral problems of patients with Epilepsy with Electrical Status Epilepticus in slow sleep (ESES) and related syndromes and to review their EEG (electroencephalography) findings and treatment options. Fourteen patients with ESES were evaluated and treated in 2010. Nine children had continuous spike and wave during slow-wave sleep (CSWS)/ESES syndrome, 3 had Atypical BECTS (benign epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes), 1 had Opercular syndrome, and 1 had Landau-Kleffner syndrome. The duration of ESES ranged from 6 to 52 months. Eleven (91%) children had behavioral issues, most prominent being hyperactivity. Seven of the 13 children (53%) showed evidence of borderline to moderate cognitive impairment. A total of 28 EEG findings of ESES were analyzed for SWI (spike-wave index). Antiepileptic drugs received by the patients included valproate, clobazam, levetiracetam, and others. Eleven patients had been treated with oral steroids and it was found to be efficacious in seven (63%). Disabilities caused by ESES affect multiple domains. Patients with an SWI>50% should be followed up frequently with neuropsychological assessments. Steroids appear to be effective, although there is a need to standardize the dose and duration of treatment. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Topography of Slow Sigma Power during Sleep is Associated with Processing Speed in Preschool Children

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Margaret R. Doucette

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Cognitive development is influenced by maturational changes in processing speed, a construct reflecting the rapidity of executing cognitive operations. Although cognitive ability and processing speed are linked to spindles and sigma power in the sleep electroencephalogram (EEG, little is known about such associations in early childhood, a time of major neuronal refinement. We calculated EEG power for slow (10–13 Hz and fast (13.25–17 Hz sigma power from all-night high-density electroencephalography (EEG in a cross-sectional sample of healthy preschool children (n = 10, 4.3 ± 1.0 years. Processing speed was assessed as simple reaction time. On average, reaction time was 1409 ± 251 ms; slow sigma power was 4.0 ± 1.5 μV2; and fast sigma power was 0.9 ± 0.2 μV2. Both slow and fast sigma power predominated over central areas. Only slow sigma power was correlated with processing speed in a large parietal electrode cluster (p < 0.05, r ranging from −0.6 to −0.8, such that greater power predicted faster reaction time. Our findings indicate regional correlates between sigma power and processing speed that are specific to early childhood and provide novel insights into the neurobiological features of the EEG that may underlie developing cognitive abilities.

Sleep-EEG in dizygotic twins discordant for Williams syndrome.

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Bódizs, Róbert; Gombos, Ferenc; Szocs, Katalin; Réthelyi, János M; Gerván, Patrícia; Kovács, Ilona

2014-01-30

Reports on twin pairs concordant and discordant for Williams syndrome were published before, but no study unravelled sleep physiology in these cases yet. We aim to fill this gap by analyzing sleep records of a twin pair discordant for Williams syndrome extending our focus on presleep wakefulness and sleep spindling. We performed multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification of the 7q11.23 region of a 17 years old dizygotic opposite-sex twin pair discordant for Williams syndrome. Polysomnography of laboratory sleep at this age was analyzed and followed-up after 1.5 years by ambulatory polysomnography. Sleep stages scoring, EEG power spectra and sleep spindle analyses were carried out. The twin brother showed reduced levels of amplification for all of the probes in the 7q11.23 region indicating a typical deletion spanning at least 1.038 Mb between FKBP6 and CLIP2. The results of the twin sister showed normal copy numbers in the investigated region. Lower sleep times and efficiencies, as well as higher slow wave sleep percents of the twin brother were evident during both recordings. Roughly equal NREM, Stage 2 and REM sleep percents were found. EEG analyses revealed state and derivation-independent decreases in alpha power, lack of an alpha spectral peak in presleep wakefulness, as well as higher NREM sleep sigma peak frequency in the twin brother. Faster sleep spindles with lower amplitude and shorter duration characterized the records of the twin brother. Spectra show a striking reliability and correspondence between the two situations (laboratory vs. home records). Alterations in sleep and specific neural oscillations including the alpha/sigma waves are inherent aspects of Williams syndrome.

Persistent hyperdopaminergia decreases the peak frequency of hippocampal theta oscillations during quiet waking and REM sleep.

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Kafui Dzirasa

Full Text Available Long-term changes in dopaminergic signaling are thought to underlie the pathophysiology of a number of psychiatric disorders. Several conditions are associated with cognitive deficits such as disturbances in attention processes and learning and memory, suggesting that persistent changes in dopaminergic signaling may alter neural mechanisms underlying these processes. Dopamine transporter knockout (DAT-KO mice exhibit a persistent five-fold increase in extracellular dopamine levels. Here, we demonstrate that DAT-KO mice display lower hippocampal theta oscillation frequencies during baseline periods of waking and rapid-eye movement sleep. These altered theta oscillations are not reversed via treatment with the antidopaminergic agent haloperidol. Thus, we propose that persistent hyperdopaminergia, together with secondary alterations in other neuromodulatory systems, results in lower frequency activity in neural systems responsible for various cognitive processes.

Functional neuroimaging insights into the physiology of human sleep.

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Dang-Vu, Thien Thanh; Schabus, Manuel; Desseilles, Martin; Sterpenich, Virginie; Bonjean, Maxime; Maquet, Pierre

2010-12-01

Functional brain imaging has been used in humans to noninvasively investigate the neural mechanisms underlying the generation of sleep stages. On the one hand, REM sleep has been associated with the activation of the pons, thalamus, limbic areas, and temporo-occipital cortices, and the deactivation of prefrontal areas, in line with theories of REM sleep generation and dreaming properties. On the other hand, during non-REM (NREM) sleep, decreases in brain activity have been consistently found in the brainstem, thalamus, and in several cortical areas including the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), in agreement with a homeostatic need for brain energy recovery. Benefiting from a better temporal resolution, more recent studies have characterized the brain activations related to phasic events within specific sleep stages. In particular, they have demonstrated that NREM sleep oscillations (spindles and slow waves) are indeed associated with increases in brain activity in specific subcortical and cortical areas involved in the generation or modulation of these waves. These data highlight that, even during NREM sleep, brain activity is increased, yet regionally specific and transient. Besides refining the understanding of sleep mechanisms, functional brain imaging has also advanced the description of the functional properties of sleep. For instance, it has been shown that the sleeping brain is still able to process external information and even detect the pertinence of its content. The relationship between sleep and memory has also been refined using neuroimaging, demonstrating post-learning reactivation during sleep, as well as the reorganization of memory representation on the systems level, sometimes with long-lasting effects on subsequent memory performance. Further imaging studies should focus on clarifying the role of specific sleep patterns for the processing of external stimuli, as well as the consolidation of freshly encoded information during sleep.

Characterizing recovery of sleep after four successive night shifts.

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Kubo, Tomohide; Takahashi, Masaya; Tachi, Norihide; Takeyama, Hidemaro; Ebara, Takeshi; Inoue, Tatsuki; Takanishi, Toshimasa; Murasaki, Gen-i; Itani, Toru

2009-10-01

The purpose of this study was to characterize the recovery pattern of sleep following simulated, four successive night shifts in ten healthy men (22.9 + or - 3.2 yr). Poor sleep was defined as sleep efficiency of 80% or lower as determined actigraphically. The results showed that four (rapid, slow, pseudo, and incomplete) patterns of sleep recovery were observed over three recovery sleep periods. The rapid and slow recovery pattern represented immediate and slow return to baseline level prior to the nightshifts, respectively. The pseudo recovery pattern demonstrated poor sleep at the 3rd recovery sleep period, despite transient recovery at the 2nd sleep period. The incomplete recovery pattern was characterized by consistently poorer sleep during the entire recovery period. The correlation analysis indicated that sleep habits (bed time and variation of wake time) prior to the experiment were significantly related to the recovery patterns, rather than performance and alertness during the night shifts.

Distinct slow and fast cortical theta dynamics in episodic memory retrieval.

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Pastötter, Bernhard; Bäuml, Karl-Heinz T

2014-07-01

Brain oscillations in the theta frequency band (3-8 Hz) have been shown to be critically involved in human episodic memory retrieval. In prior work, both positive and negative relationships between cortical theta power and retrieval success have been reported. This study examined the hypothesis that slow and fast cortical theta oscillations at the edges of the traditional theta frequency band are differentially related to retrieval success. Scalp EEG was recorded in healthy human participants as they performed a cued-recall episodic memory task. Slow (~3 Hz) and fast (~7 Hz) theta oscillations at retrieval were examined as a function of whether an item was recalled or not and as a function of the items' output position at test. Recall success typically declines with output position, due to increases in interference level. The results showed that slow theta power was positively related but fast theta power was negatively related to retrieval success. Concurrent positive and negative episodic memory effects for slow and fast theta oscillations were dissociable in time and space, showing different time courses and different spatial locations on the scalp. Moreover, fast theta power increased from early to late output positions, whereas slow theta power was unaffected by items' output position. Together with prior work, the results suggest that slow and fast theta oscillations have distinct functional roles in episodic memory retrieval, with slow theta oscillations being related to processes of recollection and conscious awareness, and fast theta oscillations being linked to processes of interference and interference resolution. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Detection of Nocturnal Slow Wave Sleep Based on Cardiorespiratory Activity in Healthy Adults.

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Long, Xi; Fonseca, Pedro; Aarts, Ronald M; Haakma, Reinder; Rolink, Jerome; Leonhardt, Steffen

2017-01-01

Human slow wave sleep (SWS) during bedtime is paramount for energy conservation and memory consolidation. This study aims at automatically detecting SWS from nocturnal sleep using cardiorespiratory signals that can be acquired with unobtrusive sensors in a home-based scenario. From the signals, time-dependent features are extracted for continuous 30-s epochs. To reduce the measuring noise, body motion artifacts, and/or within-subject variability in physiology conveyed by the features, and thus, enhance the detection performance, we propose to smooth the features over each night using a spline fitting method. In addition, it was found that the changes in cardiorespiratory activity precede the transitions between SWS and the other sleep stages (non-SWS). To this matter, a novel scheme is proposed that performs the SWS detection for each epoch using the feature values prior to that epoch. Experiments were conducted with a large dataset of 325 overnight polysomnography (PSG) recordings using a linear discriminant classifier and tenfold cross validation. Features were selected with a correlation-based method. Results show that the performance in classifying SWS and non-SWS can be significantly improved when smoothing the features and using the preceding feature values of 5-min earlier. We achieved a Cohen's Kappa coefficient of 0.57 (at an accuracy of 88.8%) using only six selected features for 257 recordings with a minimum of 30-min overnight SWS that were considered representative of their habitual sleeping pattern at home. These features included the standard deviation, low-frequency spectral power, and detrended fluctuation of heartbeat intervals as well as the variations of respiratory frequency and upper and lower respiratory envelopes. A marked drop in Kappa to 0.21 was observed for the other nights with SWS time of less than 30 min, which were found to more likely occur in elderly. This will be the future challenge in cardiorespiratory-based SWS detection.

Local sleep homeostasis in the avian brain: convergence of sleep function in mammals and birds?

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Lesku, John A; Vyssotski, Alexei L; Martinez-Gonzalez, Dolores; Wilzeck, Christiane; Rattenborg, Niels C

2011-08-22

The function of the brain activity that defines slow wave sleep (SWS) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep in mammals is unknown. During SWS, the level of electroencephalogram slow wave activity (SWA or 0.5-4.5 Hz power density) increases and decreases as a function of prior time spent awake and asleep, respectively. Such dynamics occur in response to waking brain use, as SWA increases locally in brain regions used more extensively during prior wakefulness. Thus, SWA is thought to reflect homeostatically regulated processes potentially tied to maintaining optimal brain functioning. Interestingly, birds also engage in SWS and REM sleep, a similarity that arose via convergent evolution, as sleeping reptiles and amphibians do not show similar brain activity. Although birds deprived of sleep show global increases in SWA during subsequent sleep, it is unclear whether avian sleep is likewise regulated locally. Here, we provide, to our knowledge, the first electrophysiological evidence for local sleep homeostasis in the avian brain. After staying awake watching David Attenborough's The Life of Birds with only one eye, SWA and the slope of slow waves (a purported marker of synaptic strength) increased only in the hyperpallium--a primary visual processing region--neurologically connected to the stimulated eye. Asymmetries were specific to the hyperpallium, as the non-visual mesopallium showed a symmetric increase in SWA and wave slope. Thus, hypotheses for the function of mammalian SWS that rely on local sleep homeostasis may apply also to birds.

Late postoperative nocturnal episodic hypoxaemia and associated sleep pattern

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rosenberg, J; Wildschiødtz, G; Pedersen, M H

1994-01-01

significantly after surgery (P REM) sleep decreased significantly on the first night after operation (P REM sleep (rebound) on the second, third or both nights after operation compared with the preoperative night. Slow wave sleep...... was depressed significantly on the first two nights after operation (P REM sleep-associated hypoxaemic episodes for individual patients increased about three-fold on the second and third nights after operation compared with the night before operation (P sleep...... pattern is disturbed severely with early depression of REM and slow wave sleep and with rebound of REM sleep on the second and third nights. Postoperative rebound of REM sleep may contribute to the development of sleep disordered breathing and nocturnal episodic hypoxaemia....

Experimental demonstration of spinor slow light

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Lee, Meng-Jung; Ruseckas, Julius; Lee, Chin-Yuan; Kudriašov, Viačeslav; Chang, Kao-Fang; Cho, Hung-Wen; JuzeliÅ«nas, Gediminas; Yu, Ite A.

2016-03-01

Over the last decade there has been a continuing interest in slow and stored light based on the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) effect, because of their potential applications in quantum information manipulation. However, previous experimental works all dealt with the single-component slow light which cannot be employed as a qubit. In this work, we report the first experimental demonstration of two-component or spinor slow light (SSL) using a double tripod (DT) atom-light coupling scheme. The oscillations between the two components, similar to the Rabi oscillation of a two-level system or a qubit, were observed. Single-photon SSL can be considered as two-color qubits. We experimentally demonstrated a possible application of the DT scheme as quantum memory and quantum rotator for the two-color qubits. This work opens up a new direction in the slow light research.

Propofol Anesthesia and Sleep: A High-Density EEG Study

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Murphy, Michael; Bruno, Marie-Aurelie; Riedner, Brady A.; Boveroux, Pierre; Noirhomme, Quentin; Landsness, Eric C.; Brichant, Jean-Francois; Phillips, Christophe; Massimini, Marcello; Laureys, Steven; Tononi, Giulio; Boly, Melanie

2011-01-01

Study Objectives: The electrophysiological correlates of anesthetic sedation remain poorly understood. We used high-density electroencephalography (hd-EEG) and source modeling to investigate the cortical processes underlying propofol anesthesia and compare them to sleep. Design: 256-channel EEG recordings in humans during propofol anesthesia. Setting: Hospital operating room. Patients or Participants: 8 healthy subjects (4 males) Interventions: N/A Measurements and Results: Initially, propofol induced increases in EEG power from 12–25 Hz. Loss of consciousness (LOC) was accompanied by the appearance of EEG slow waves that resembled the slow waves of NREM sleep. We compared slow waves in propofol to slow waves recorded during natural sleep and found that both populations of waves share similar cortical origins and preferentially propagate along the mesial components of the default network. However, propofol slow waves were spatially blurred compared to sleep slow waves and failed to effectively entrain spindle activity. Propofol also caused an increase in gamma (25–40 Hz) power that persisted throughout LOC. Source modeling analysis showed that this increase in gamma power originated from the anterior and posterior cingulate cortices. During LOC, we found increased gamma functional connectivity between these regions compared to the wakefulness. Conclusions: Propofol anesthesia is a sleep-like state and slow waves are associated with diminished consciousness even in the presence of high gamma activity. Citation: Murphy M; Bruno MA; Riedner BA; Boveroux P; Noirhomme Q; Landsness EC; Brichant JF; Phillips C; Massimini M; Laureys S; Tononi G; Boly M. Propofol anesthesia and sleep: a high-density EEG study. SLEEP 2011;34(3):283-291. PMID:21358845

A probabilistic analysis of the crystal oscillator behavior at low drive levels

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Shmaliy, Yuriy S.; Brendel, Rémi

2008-03-01

The paper discusses a probabilistic model of a crystal oscillator at low drive levels where the noise intensity is comparable with the oscillation amplitude. The stationary probability density of the oscillations envelope is derived and investigated for the nonlinear resonator loses. A stochastic explanation is given for the well-known phenomenon termed sleeping sickness associated with losing a facility of self-excitation by a crystal oscillator after a long storage without a power supply. It is shown that, with low drive levels leading to an insufficient feedback, a crystal oscillator generates the noise-induced oscillations rather than it absolutely "falls in sleep".

Cueing vocabulary during sleep increases theta activity during later recognition testing.

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Schreiner, Thomas; Göldi, Maurice; Rasch, Björn

2015-11-01

Neural oscillations in the theta band have repeatedly been implicated in successful memory encoding and retrieval. Several recent studies have shown that memory retrieval can be facilitated by reactivating memories during their consolidation during sleep. However, it is still unknown whether reactivation during sleep also enhances subsequent retrieval-related neural oscillations. We have recently demonstrated that foreign vocabulary cues presented during sleep improve later recall of the associated translations. Here, we examined the effect of cueing foreign vocabulary during sleep on oscillatory activity during subsequent recognition testing after sleep. We show that those words that were replayed during sleep after learning (cued words) elicited stronger centroparietal theta activity during recognition as compared to noncued words. The reactivation-induced increase in theta oscillations during later recognition testing might reflect a strengthening of individual memory traces and the integration of the newly learned words into the mental lexicon by cueing during sleep. © 2015 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

An Adenosine-Mediated Glial-Neuronal Circuit for Homeostatic Sleep.

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Bjorness, Theresa E; Dale, Nicholas; Mettlach, Gabriel; Sonneborn, Alex; Sahin, Bogachan; Fienberg, Allen A; Yanagisawa, Masashi; Bibb, James A; Greene, Robert W

2016-03-30

Sleep homeostasis reflects a centrally mediated drive for sleep, which increases during waking and resolves during subsequent sleep. Here we demonstrate that mice deficient for glial adenosine kinase (AdK), the primary metabolizing enzyme for adenosine (Ado), exhibit enhanced expression of this homeostatic drive by three independent measures: (1) increased rebound of slow-wave activity; (2) increased consolidation of slow-wave sleep; and (3) increased time constant of slow-wave activity decay during an average slow-wave sleep episode, proposed and validated here as a new index for homeostatic sleep drive. Conversely, mice deficient for the neuronal adenosine A1 receptor exhibit significantly decreased sleep drive as judged by these same indices. Neuronal knock-out of AdK did not influence homeostatic sleep need. Together, these findings implicate a glial-neuronal circuit mediated by intercellular Ado, controlling expression of homeostatic sleep drive. Because AdK is tightly regulated by glial metabolic state, our findings suggest a functional link between cellular metabolism and sleep homeostasis. The work presented here provides evidence for an adenosine-mediated regulation of sleep in response to waking (i.e., homeostatic sleep need), requiring activation of neuronal adenosine A1 receptors and controlled by glial adenosine kinase. Adenosine kinase acts as a highly sensitive and important metabolic sensor of the glial ATP/ADP and AMP ratio directly controlling intracellular adenosine concentration. Glial equilibrative adenosine transporters reflect the intracellular concentration to the extracellular milieu to activate neuronal adenosine receptors. Thus, adenosine mediates a glial-neuronal circuit linking glial metabolic state to neural-expressed sleep homeostasis. This indicates a metabolically related function(s) for this glial-neuronal circuit in the buildup and resolution of our need to sleep and suggests potential therapeutic targets more directly related to

Slow light in semiconductor waveguides: Theory and experiment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mørk, Jesper; Öhman, Filip; Poel, Mike van der

2007-01-01

Slow light in multi-section quantum well waveguide structure is realized using either coherent population oscillations (CPO) and electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) is studied. The properties of the two schemes are compared and discussed.......Slow light in multi-section quantum well waveguide structure is realized using either coherent population oscillations (CPO) and electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) is studied. The properties of the two schemes are compared and discussed....

Time course of EEG slow-wave activity in pre-school children with sleep disordered breathing: a possible mechanism for daytime deficits?

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Biggs, Sarah N; Walter, Lisa M; Nisbet, Lauren C; Jackman, Angela R; Anderson, Vicki; Nixon, Gillian M; Davey, Margot J; Trinder, John; Hoffmann, Robert; Armitage, Roseanne; Horne, Rosemary S C

2012-09-01

Daytime deficits in children with sleep disordered breathing (SDB) are theorized to result from hypoxic insult to the developing brain or fragmented sleep. Yet, these do not explain why deficits occur in primary snorers (PS). The time course of slow wave EEG activity (SWA), a proxy of homeostatic regulation and cortical maturation, may provide insight. Clinical and control subjects (N=175: mean age 4.3±0.9 y: 61% male) participated in overnight polysomnography (PSG). Standard sleep scoring and power spectral analyses were conducted on EEG (C4/A1; 0.5-sleep stages and respiratory parameters. Repeated-measures ANCOVA evaluated group differences in the time course of SWA. Four groups were classified: controls (OAHI ≤ 1 event/h; no clinical history); PS (OAHI ≤ 1 event/h; clinical history); mild OSA (OAHI=1-5 events/h); and moderate to severe OSA (MS OSA: OAHI>5 events/h). Group differences were found in the percentage of time spent in NREM Stages 1 and 4 (psleep pressure but impaired restorative sleep function in pre-school children with SDB, providing new insights into the possible mechanism for daytime deficits observed in all severities of SDB. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Non-REM sleep EEG power distribution in fatigue and sleepiness.

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Neu, Daniel; Mairesse, Olivier; Verbanck, Paul; Linkowski, Paul; Le Bon, Olivier

2014-04-01

The aim of this study is to contribute to the sleep-related differentiation between daytime fatigue and sleepiness. 135 subjects presenting with sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (SAHS, n=58) or chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS, n=52) with respective sleepiness or fatigue complaints and a control group (n=25) underwent polysomnography and psychometric assessments for fatigue, sleepiness, affective symptoms and perceived sleep quality. Sleep EEG spectral analysis for ultra slow, delta, theta, alpha, sigma and beta power bands was performed on frontal, central and occipital derivations. Patient groups presented with impaired subjective sleep quality and higher affective symptom intensity. CFS patients presented with highest fatigue and SAHS patients with highest sleepiness levels. All groups showed similar total sleep time. Subject groups mainly differed in sleep efficiency, wake after sleep onset, duration of light sleep (N1, N2) and slow wave sleep, as well as in sleep fragmentation and respiratory disturbance. Relative non-REM sleep power spectra distributions suggest a pattern of power exchange in higher frequency bands at the expense of central ultra slow power in CFS patients during all non-REM stages. In SAHS patients, however, we found an opposite pattern at occipital sites during N1 and N2. Slow wave activity presents as a crossroad of fatigue and sleepiness with, however, different spectral power band distributions during non-REM sleep. The homeostatic function of sleep might be compromised in CFS patients and could explain why, in contrast to sleepiness, fatigue does not resolve with sleep in these patients. The present findings thus contribute to the differentiation of both phenomena. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Light sleep versus slow wave sleep in memory consolidation: a question of global versus local processes?

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Genzel, Lisa; Kroes, Marijn C W; Dresler, Martin; Battaglia, Francesco P

2014-01-01

Sleep is strongly involved in memory consolidation, but its role remains unclear. 'Sleep replay', the active potentiation of relevant synaptic connections via reactivation of patterns of network activity that occurred during previous experience, has received considerable attention. Alternatively, sleep has been suggested to regulate synaptic weights homeostatically and nonspecifically, thereby improving the signal:noise ratio of memory traces. Here, we reconcile these theories by highlighting the distinction between light and deep nonrapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. Specifically, we draw on recent studies to suggest a link between light NREM and active potentiation, and between deep NREM and homeostatic regulation. This framework could serve as a key for interpreting the physiology of sleep stages and reconciling inconsistencies in terminology in this field. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Exploring carrier dynamics in semiconductors for slow light

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mørk, Jesper; Xue, Weiqi; Chen, Yaohui

2009-01-01

We give an overview of recent results on slow and fast light in active semiconductor waveguides. The cases of coherent population oscillations as well as electromagnetically induced transparency are covered, emphasizing the physics and fundamental limitations.......We give an overview of recent results on slow and fast light in active semiconductor waveguides. The cases of coherent population oscillations as well as electromagnetically induced transparency are covered, emphasizing the physics and fundamental limitations....

Deepening Sleep by Hypnotic Suggestion

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Cordi, Maren J.; Schlarb, Angelika A.; Rasch, Björn

2014-01-01

Study Objectives: Slow wave sleep (SWS) plays a critical role in body restoration and promotes brain plasticity; however, it markedly declines across the lifespan. Despite its importance, effective tools to increase SWS are rare. Here we tested whether a hypnotic suggestion to “sleep deeper” extends the amount of SWS. Design: Within-subject, placebo-controlled crossover design. Setting: Sleep laboratory at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Participants: Seventy healthy females 23.27 ± 3.17 y. Intervention: Participants listened to an auditory text with hypnotic suggestions or a control tape before napping for 90 min while high-density electroencephalography was recorded. Measurements and Results: After participants listened to the hypnotic suggestion to “sleep deeper” subsequent SWS was increased by 81% and time spent awake was reduced by 67% (with the amount of SWS or wake in the control condition set to 100%). Other sleep stages remained unaffected. Additionally, slow wave activity was significantly enhanced after hypnotic suggestions. During the hypnotic tape, parietal theta power increases predicted the hypnosis-induced extension of SWS. Additional experiments confirmed that the beneficial effect of hypnotic suggestions on SWS was specific to the hypnotic suggestion and did not occur in low suggestible participants. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of hypnotic suggestions to specifically increase the amount and duration of slow wave sleep (SWS) in a midday nap using objective measures of sleep in young, healthy, suggestible females. Hypnotic suggestions might be a successful tool with a lower risk of adverse side effects than pharmacological treatments to extend SWS also in clinical and elderly populations. Citation: Cordi MJ, Schlarb AA, Rasch B. Deepening sleep by hypnotic suggestion. SLEEP 2014;37(6):1143-1152. PMID:24882909

Oscillatory bands, neuronal synchrony and hippocampal function: implications of the effects of prenatal choline supplementation for sleep-dependent memory consolidation.

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Cheng, Ruey-Kuang; Williams, Christina L; Meck, Warren H

2008-10-27

Choline supplementation of the maternal diet has long-term facilitative effects on spatial and temporal memory processes in the offspring. To further delineate the impact of early nutritional status on brain and behavior, we examined effects of prenatal-choline availability on hippocampal oscillatory frequency bands in 12 month-old male and female rats. Adult offspring of time-pregnant dams that were given a deficient level of choline (DEF=0.0 g/kg), sufficient choline (CON=1.1 g/kg) or supplemental choline (SUP=3.5 g/kg) in their chow during embryonic days (ED) 12-17 were implanted with an electroencephalograph (EEG) electrode in the hippocampal dentate gyrus in combination with an electromyograph (EMG) electrode patch implanted in the nuchal muscle. Five consecutive 8-h recording sessions revealed differential patterns of EEG activity as a function of awake, slow-wave sleep (SWS) and rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep states and prenatal choline status. The main finding was that SUP rats displayed increased power levels of gamma (30-100 Hz) band oscillations during all phases of the sleep/wake cycle. These findings are discussed within the context of a general review of neuronal oscillations (e.g., delta, theta, and gamma bands) and synchronization across multiple brain regions in relation to sleep-dependent memory consolidation in the hippocampus.

Effect of Early Diagnosis and Treatment on the Prognosis of Children with Epilepsy Accompanied by Continuous Spikes and Waves during Slow Wave Sleep

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiahua Ju

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Objective: To emphasize the importance of early diagnosis and treatment on the prognosis of children with epilepsy accompanied by continuous spikes and waves during slow wave sleep (CSCW. Methods: The clinical characteristics, electroencephalogram (ECG features, treatment and prognosis of 12 children with CSCW in our hospital were retrospectively analyzed, and the followup of 6 months to 4 years was given. Results: Imaging showed that 8 children suffered from brain lesions, while other 4 were normal. The initial onset of 10 children was at night, whereas 2 began with absence seizure in lucid interval, and they gradually appeared comprehensive brain function decline, meanwhile, ECG was characterized by continuous discharge during slow wave sleep. After 3 months of treatment with valproic acid, clonazepam, lamotrigine and hormones, the clinical symptoms and ECG of 10 children improved significantly, in which 3 ones recurred after 6 months of comprehensive treatment. Conclusion: The early manifestation of CSWS is untypical, and hence, early diagnosis and treatment can ameliorate the epileptic seizures of children, effectively inhibit epileptic electrical activity and has favorable prognosis.

Slowing down bubbles with sound

Science.gov (United States)

Poulain, Cedric; Dangla, Remie; Guinard, Marion

2009-11-01

We present experimental evidence that a bubble moving in a fluid in which a well-chosen acoustic noise is superimposed can be significantly slowed down even for moderate acoustic pressure. Through mean velocity measurements, we show that a condition for this effect to occur is for the acoustic noise spectrum to match or overlap the bubble's fundamental resonant mode. We render the bubble's oscillations and translational movements using high speed video. We show that radial oscillations (Rayleigh-Plesset type) have no effect on the mean velocity, while above a critical pressure, a parametric type instability (Faraday waves) is triggered and gives rise to nonlinear surface oscillations. We evidence that these surface waves are subharmonic and responsible for the bubble's drag increase. When the acoustic intensity is increased, Faraday modes interact and the strongly nonlinear oscillations behave randomly, leading to a random behavior of the bubble's trajectory and consequently to a higher slow down. Our observations may suggest new strategies for bubbly flow control, or two-phase microfluidic devices. It might also be applicable to other elastic objects, such as globules, cells or vesicles, for medical applications such as elasticity-based sorting.

Modeling aircraft noise induced sleep disturbance

Science.gov (United States)

McGuire, Sarah M.

One of the primary impacts of aircraft noise on a community is its disruption of sleep. Aircraft noise increases the time to fall asleep, the number of awakenings, and decreases the amount of rapid eye movement and slow wave sleep. Understanding these changes in sleep may be important as they could increase the risk for developing next-day effects such as sleepiness and reduced performance and long-term health effects such as cardiovascular disease. There are models that have been developed to predict the effect of aircraft noise on sleep. However, most of these models only predict the percentage of the population that is awakened. Markov and nonlinear dynamic models have been developed to predict an individual's sleep structure during the night. However, both of these models have limitations. The Markov model only accounts for whether an aircraft event occurred not the noise level or other sound characteristics of the event that may affect the degree of disturbance. The nonlinear dynamic models were developed to describe normal sleep regulation and do not have a noise effects component. In addition, the nonlinear dynamic models have slow dynamics which make it difficult to predict short duration awakenings which occur both spontaneously and as a result of nighttime noise exposure. The purpose of this research was to examine these sleep structure models to determine how they could be altered to predict the effect of aircraft noise on sleep. Different approaches for adding a noise level dependence to the Markov Model was explored and the modified model was validated by comparing predictions to behavioral awakening data. In order to determine how to add faster dynamics to the nonlinear dynamic sleep models it was necessary to have a more detailed sleep stage classification than was available from visual scoring of sleep data. An automatic sleep stage classification algorithm was developed which extracts different features of polysomnography data including the

Sleep Spindles in the Right Hemisphere Support Awareness of Regularities and Reflect Pre-Sleep Activations.

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Yordanova, Juliana; Kolev, Vasil; Bruns, Eike; Kirov, Roumen; Verleger, Rolf

2017-11-01

The present study explored the sleep mechanisms which may support awareness of hidden regularities. Before sleep, 53 participants learned implicitly a lateralized variant of the serial response-time task in order to localize sensorimotor encoding either in the left or right hemisphere and induce implicit regularity representations. Electroencephalographic (EEG) activity was recorded at multiple electrodes during both task performance and sleep, searching for lateralized traces of the preceding activity during learning. Sleep EEG analysis focused on region-specific slow (9-12 Hz) and fast (13-16 Hz) sleep spindles during nonrapid eye movement sleep. Fast spindle activity at those motor regions that were activated during learning increased with the amount of postsleep awareness. Independently of side of learning, spindle activity at right frontal and fronto-central regions was involved: there, fast spindles increased with the transformation of sequence knowledge from implicit before sleep to explicit after sleep, and slow spindles correlated with individual abilities of gaining awareness. These local modulations of sleep spindles corresponded to regions with greater presleep activation in participants with postsleep explicit knowledge. Sleep spindle mechanisms are related to explicit awareness (1) by tracing the activation of motor cortical and right-hemisphere regions which had stronger involvement already during learning and (2) by recruitment of individually consolidated processing modules in the right hemisphere. The integration of different sleep spindle mechanisms with functional states during wake collectively supports the gain of awareness of previously experienced regularities, with a special role for the right hemisphere. © Sleep Research Society 2017. Published by Oxford University Press [on behalf of the Sleep Research Society].

Astrocytic modulation of sleep homeostasis and cognitive consequences of sleep loss.

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Halassa, Michael M; Florian, Cedrick; Fellin, Tommaso; Munoz, James R; Lee, So-Young; Abel, Ted; Haydon, Philip G; Frank, Marcos G

2009-01-29

Astrocytes modulate neuronal activity by releasing chemical transmitters via a process termed gliotransmission. The role of this process in the control of behavior is unknown. Since one outcome of SNARE-dependent gliotransmission is the regulation of extracellular adenosine and because adenosine promotes sleep, we genetically inhibited the release of gliotransmitters and asked if astrocytes play an unsuspected role in sleep regulation. Inhibiting gliotransmission attenuated the accumulation of sleep pressure, assessed by measuring the slow wave activity of the EEG during NREM sleep, and prevented cognitive deficits associated with sleep loss. Since the sleep-suppressing effects of the A1 receptor antagonist CPT were prevented following inhibition of gliotransmission and because intracerebroventricular delivery of CPT to wild-type mice mimicked the transgenic phenotype, we conclude that astrocytes modulate the accumulation of sleep pressure and its cognitive consequences through a pathway involving A1 receptors.

Enhanced Memory Consolidation Via Automatic Sound Stimulation During Non-REM Sleep.

Science.gov (United States)

Leminen, Miika M; Virkkala, Jussi; Saure, Emma; Paajanen, Teemu; Zee, Phyllis C; Santostasi, Giovanni; Hublin, Christer; Müller, Kiti; Porkka-Heiskanen, Tarja; Huotilainen, Minna; Paunio, Tiina

2017-03-01

Slow-wave sleep (SWS) slow waves and sleep spindle activity have been shown to be crucial for memory consolidation. Recently, memory consolidation has been causally facilitated in human participants via auditory stimuli phase-locked to SWS slow waves. Here, we aimed to develop a new acoustic stimulus protocol to facilitate learning and to validate it using different memory tasks. Most importantly, the stimulation setup was automated to be applicable for ambulatory home use. Fifteen healthy participants slept 3 nights in the laboratory. Learning was tested with 4 memory tasks (word pairs, serial finger tapping, picture recognition, and face-name association). Additional questionnaires addressed subjective sleep quality and overnight changes in mood. During the stimulus night, auditory stimuli were adjusted and targeted by an unsupervised algorithm to be phase-locked to the negative peak of slow waves in SWS. During the control night no sounds were presented. Results showed that the sound stimulation increased both slow wave (p = .002) and sleep spindle activity (p memory performance was compared between stimulus and control nights, we found a significant effect in word pair task but not in other memory tasks. The stimulation did not affect sleep structure or subjective sleep quality. We showed that the memory effect of the SWS-targeted individually triggered single-sound stimulation is specific to verbal associative memory. Moreover, the ambulatory and automated sound stimulus setup was promising and allows for a broad range of potential follow-up studies in the future. © Sleep Research Society 2017. Published by Oxford University Press [on behalf of the Sleep Research Society].

Spontaneous and visually-driven high-frequency oscillations in the occipital cortex: Intracranial recording in epileptic patients

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Nagasawa, Tetsuro; Juhász, Csaba; Rothermel, Robert; Hoechstetter, Karsten; Sood, Sandeep; Asano, Eishi

2011-01-01

SUMMARY High-frequency oscillations (HFOs) at ≧80 Hz of nonepileptic nature spontaneously emerge from human cerebral cortex. In 10 patients with extra-occipital lobe epilepsy, we compared the spectral-spatial characteristics of HFOs spontaneously arising from the nonepileptic occipital cortex with those of HFOs driven by a visual task as well as epileptogenic HFOs arising from the extra-occipital seizure focus. We identified spontaneous HFOs at ≧80 Hz with a mean duration of 330 msec intermittently emerging from the occipital cortex during interictal slow-wave sleep. The spectral frequency band of spontaneous occipital HFOs was similar to that of visually-driven HFOs. Spontaneous occipital HFOs were spatially sparse and confined to smaller areas, whereas visually-driven HFOs involved the larger areas including the more rostral sites. Neither spectral frequency band nor amplitude of spontaneous occipital HFOs significantly differed from those of epileptogenic HFOs. Spontaneous occipital HFOs were strongly locked to the phase of delta activity, but the strength of delta-phase coupling decayed from 1 to 3 Hz. Conversely, epileptogenic extra-occipital HFOs were locked to the phase of delta activity about equally in the range from 1 to 3 Hz. The occipital cortex spontaneously generates physiological HFOs which may stand out on electrocorticography traces as prominently as pathological HFOs arising from elsewhere; this observation should be taken into consideration during presurgical evaluation. Coupling of spontaneous delta and HFOs may increase the understanding of significance of delta-oscillations during slow-wave sleep. Further studies are warranted to determine whether delta-phase coupling distinguishes physiological from pathological HFOs or simply differs across anatomical locations. PMID:21432945

Light sleep versus slow wave sleep in memory consolidation: a question of global versus local processes?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Genzel, L.K.E.; Kroes, M.C.W.; Dresler, M.; Battaglia, F.P.

2014-01-01

Sleep is strongly involved in memory consolidation, but its role remains unclear. 'Sleep replay', the active potentiation of relevant synaptic connections via reactivation of patterns of network activity that occurred during previous experience, has received considerable attention. Alternatively,

Sleep, Torpor and Memory Impairment

Science.gov (United States)

Palchykova, S.; Tobler, I.

It is now well known that daily torpor induces a sleep deficit. Djungarian hamsters emerging from this hypometabolic state spend most of the time in sleep. This sleep is characterized by high initial values of EEG slow-wave activity (SWA) that monotonically decline during recovery sleep. These features resemble the changes seen in numerous species during recovery after prolonged wakefulness or sleep deprivation (SD). When hamsters are totally or partially sleep deprived immediately after emerging from torpor, an additional increase in SWA can be induced. It has been therefore postulated, that these slow- waves are homeostatically regulated, as predicted by the two-process model of sleep regulation, and that during daily torpor a sleep deficit is accumulated as it is during prolonged waking. The predominance of SWA in the frontal EEG observed both after SD and daily torpor provides further evidence for the similarity of these conditions. It has been shown in several animal and human studies that sleep can enhance memory consolidation, and that SD leads to memory impairment. Preliminary data obtained in the Djungarian hamster showed that both SD and daily torpor result in object recognition deficits. Thus, animals subjected to SD immediately after learning, or if they underwent an episode of daily torpor between learning and retention, displayed impaired recognition memory for complex object scenes. The investigation of daily torpor can reveal mechanisms that could have important implications for hypometabolic state induction in other mammalian species, including humans.

Update of sleep alterations in depression

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Andrés Barrera Medina

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Sleep disturbances in depression are up to 70%. Patients frequently have difficulty in falling asleep, frequent awakenings during the night and non-restorative sleep. Sleep abnormalities in depression are mainly characterized by increased rapid eye movement (REM sleep and reduced slow wave sleep. Among the mechanisms of sleep disturbances in depression are hyperactivation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, CLOCK gene polymorphism and primary sleep disorders. The habenula is a structure regulating the activities of monoaminergic neurons in the brain. The hyperactivation of the habenula has also been implicated, together with sleep disturbances, in depression. The presence of depression in primary sleep disorders is common. Sleep disturbances treatment include pharmacotherapy or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

Update of sleep alterations in depression

Science.gov (United States)

Medina, Andrés Barrera; Lechuga, DeboraYoaly Arana; Escandón, Oscar Sánchez; Moctezuma, Javier Velázquez

2014-01-01

Sleep disturbances in depression are up to 70%. Patients frequently have difficulty in falling asleep, frequent awakenings during the night and non-restorative sleep. Sleep abnormalities in depression are mainly characterized by increased rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and reduced slow wave sleep. Among the mechanisms of sleep disturbances in depression are hyperactivation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, CLOCK gene polymorphism and primary sleep disorders. The habenula is a structure regulating the activities of monoaminergic neurons in the brain. The hyperactivation of the habenula has also been implicated, together with sleep disturbances, in depression. The presence of depression in primary sleep disorders is common. Sleep disturbances treatment include pharmacotherapy or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. PMID:26483922

EEG-guided transcranial magnetic stimulation reveals rapid shifts in motor cortical excitability during the human sleep slow oscillation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bergmann, Til O; Mölle, Matthias; Schmidt, Marlit A

2012-01-01

Evoked cortical responses do not follow a rigid input–output function but are dynamically shaped by intrinsic neural properties at the time of stimulation. Recent research has emphasized the role of oscillatory activity in determining cortical excitability. Here we employed EEG-guided transcranial......, closely resembling a spontaneous SO. However, both MEPs and TEPs were consistently larger when evoked during SO up-states than during down-states, and ampliudes within each SO state depended on the actual EEG potential at the time and site of stimulation. These results provide first-time evidence...... magnetic stimulation (TMS) during non-rapid eye movement sleep to examine whether the spontaneous

Free Oscillations of the Facula Node at the Stage of Slow Dissipation

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Solov'ev, A. A.; Kirichek, E. A.; Efremov, V. I.

2017-12-01

A solar faculae having an appearance of quite long-lived magnetic nodes can perform (as well as sunspots, chromospheric filaments, coronal loops) free oscillations, i.e., they can oscillate about the stable equilibrium position as a single whole, changing quasi-periodically magnetic field averaged over the section with periods from 1 to 4 hours. Kolotkov et al. (2017) described the case in which the average magnetic field strength of the facula node considerably decreased during observations of SDO magnetograms (13 hours), and, at the same time, its oscillations acquired a specific character: the fundamental mode of free oscillations of the facula considerably increased in amplitude (by approximately two times), while the period of oscillations increased by three times. At the end of the process, the system dissipated. In this work, we present the exact solution of the equation of small-amplitude oscillations of the system with a time-variable rigidity, describing the oscillation behavior at which the elasticity of the system decreases with time, while the period and amplitude of oscillations grow.

Measurement of the anti reactivity of a control rod of G1, by a slow oscillation method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Breton, D.; Leroy, J.; Vidal, R.

1957-01-01

It is possible to determine the effect of the end of a control rod on the reactivity of the pile by measuring the modulation induced in the neutron flux by the slow oscillation of this control rod. The total effect of the control rod can be deduced, given certain hypothesis and corrections, from the experimental curve giving the effect of the end of the rod as a function of its position. This method has the advantage of permitting the measurement of very large anti reactivities, such as p= 10 -2 for example, which would not be possible by other kinetic methods. Thus the control rod B 3 , in the low position, brings about a reduction in reactivity equal to 1130 p.c.m. ± 30 in the pile charged with 518 fuel elements, on one side only of the slit. We have compared the oscillation method with the classical divergence method, in the fields where the two measurements were possible: a satisfactory agreement was found. We have established that the phase displacement between the oscillation of the rod and the modulation of the flux varied greatly with the position of the rod. This variation cannot be explained on the basis of the dynamic model independent of space; we have attributed it to the influence of spatial harmonics of the flux distribution, and have determined a correction which frees the measurements of this influence. (author) [fr

Sleeping on the rubber-hand illusion: Memory reactivation during sleep facilitates multisensory recalibration.

Science.gov (United States)

Honma, Motoyasu; Plass, John; Brang, David; Florczak, Susan M; Grabowecky, Marcia; Paller, Ken A

2016-01-01

Plasticity is essential in body perception so that physical changes in the body can be accommodated and assimilated. Multisensory integration of visual, auditory, tactile, and proprioceptive signals contributes both to conscious perception of the body's current state and to associated learning. However, much is unknown about how novel information is assimilated into body perception networks in the brain. Sleep-based consolidation can facilitate various types of learning via the reactivation of networks involved in prior encoding or through synaptic down-scaling. Sleep may likewise contribute to perceptual learning of bodily information by providing an optimal time for multisensory recalibration. Here we used methods for targeted memory reactivation (TMR) during slow-wave sleep to examine the influence of sleep-based reactivation of experimentally induced alterations in body perception. The rubber-hand illusion was induced with concomitant auditory stimulation in 24 healthy participants on 3 consecutive days. While each participant was sleeping in his or her own bed during intervening nights, electrophysiological detection of slow-wave sleep prompted covert stimulation with either the sound heard during illusion induction, a counterbalanced novel sound, or neither. TMR systematically enhanced feelings of bodily ownership after subsequent inductions of the rubber-hand illusion. TMR also enhanced spatial recalibration of perceived hand location in the direction of the rubber hand. This evidence for a sleep-based facilitation of a body-perception illusion demonstrates that the spatial recalibration of multisensory signals can be altered overnight to stabilize new learning of bodily representations. Sleep-based memory processing may thus constitute a fundamental component of body-image plasticity.

Voluntary Sleep Loss in Rats

Science.gov (United States)

Oonk, Marcella; Krueger, James M.; Davis, Christopher J.

2016-01-01

Study Objectives: Animal sleep deprivation (SDEP), in contrast to human SDEP, is involuntary and involves repeated exposure to aversive stimuli including the inability of the animal to control the waking stimulus. Therefore, we explored intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS), an operant behavior, as a method for voluntary SDEP in rodents. Methods: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were implanted with electroencephalography/electromyography (EEG/EMG) recording electrodes and a unilateral bipolar electrode into the lateral hypothalamus. Rats were allowed to self-stimulate, or underwent gentle handling-induced SDEP (GH-SDEP), during the first 6 h of the light phase, after which they were allowed to sleep. Other rats performed the 6 h ICSS and 1 w later were subjected to 6 h of noncontingent stimulation (NCS). During NCS the individual stimulation patterns recorded during ICSS were replayed. Results: After GH-SDEP, ICSS, or NCS, time in nonrapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep increased. Further, in the 24 h after SDEP, rats recovered all of the REM sleep lost during SDEP, but only 75% to 80% of the NREM sleep lost, regardless of the SDEP method. The magnitude of EEG slow wave responses occurring during NREM sleep also increased after SDEP treatments. However, NREM sleep EEG slow wave activity (SWA) responses were attenuated following ICSS, compared to GH-SDEP and NCS. Conclusions: We conclude that ICSS and NCS can be used to sleep deprive rats. Changes in rebound NREM sleep EEG SWA occurring after ICSS, NCS, and GH-SDEP suggest that nonspecific effects of the SDEP procedure differentially affect recovery sleep phenotypes. Citation: Oonk M, Krueger JM, Davis CJ. Voluntary sleep loss in rats. SLEEP 2016;39(7):1467–1479. PMID:27166236

Imaging the dorsal hippocampus: light reflectance relationships to electroencephalographic patterns during sleep

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rector, D M; Poe, G R; Kristensen, Morten Pilgaard

1995-01-01

We assessed the correspondence of 660 nm light reflectance changes from the dorsal hippocampus with slow wave electroencephalographic (EEG) activity during quiet sleep (QS) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep in four cats. An optic probe, attached to a charge-coupled-device (CCD) video camera...... as EEG changes. Dividing the image into 10 subregions revealed that reflectance changes at the rhythmical slow wave activity band (RSA, 4-6 Hz) persisted in localized regions during QS and REM sleep, but regional changes showed considerable wave-by-wave independence between areas and from slow wave...

SLEEP AND OLFACTORY CORTICAL PLASTICITY

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Dylan eBarnes

2014-04-01

Full Text Available In many systems, sleep plays a vital role in memory consolidation and synaptic homeostasis. These processes together help store information of biological significance and reset synaptic circuits to facilitate acquisition of information in the future. In this review, we describe recent evidence of sleep-dependent changes in olfactory system structure and function which contribute to odor memory and perception. During slow-wave sleep, the piriform cortex becomes hypo-responsive to odor stimulation and instead displays sharp-wave activity similar to that observed within the hippocampal formation. Furthermore, the functional connectivity between the piriform cortex and other cortical and limbic regions is enhanced during slow-wave sleep compared to waking. This combination of conditions may allow odor memory consolidation to occur during a state of reduced external interference and facilitate association of odor memories with stored hedonic and contextual cues. Evidence consistent with sleep-dependent odor replay within olfactory cortical circuits is presented. These data suggest that both the strength and precision of odor memories is sleep-dependent. The work further emphasizes the critical role of synaptic plasticity and memory in not only odor memory but also basic odor perception. The work also suggests a possible link between sleep disturbances that are frequently co-morbid with a wide range of pathologies including Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia and depression and the known olfactory impairments associated with those disorders.

Sleep promotes consolidation of emotional memory in healthy children but not in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

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Alexander Prehn-Kristensen

Full Text Available Fronto-limbic brain activity during sleep is believed to support the consolidation of emotional memories in healthy adults. Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD is accompanied by emotional deficits coincidently caused by dysfunctional interplay of fronto-limbic circuits. This study aimed to examine the role of sleep in the consolidation of emotional memory in ADHD in the context of healthy development. 16 children with ADHD, 16 healthy children, and 20 healthy adults participated in this study. Participants completed an emotional picture recognition paradigm in sleep and wake control conditions. Each condition had an immediate (baseline and delayed (target retrieval session. The emotional memory bias was baseline-corrected, and groups were compared in terms of sleep-dependent memory consolidation (sleep vs. wake. We observed an increased sleep-dependent emotional memory bias in healthy children compared to children with ADHD and healthy adults. Frontal oscillatory EEG activity (slow oscillations, theta during sleep correlated negatively with emotional memory performance in children with ADHD. When combining data of healthy children and adults, correlation coefficients were positive and differed from those in children with ADHD. Since children displayed a higher frontal EEG activity than adults these data indicate a decline in sleep-related consolidation of emotional memory in healthy development. In addition, it is suggested that deficits in sleep-related selection between emotional and non-emotional memories in ADHD exacerbate emotional problems during daytime as they are often reported in ADHD.

Sleep Promotes Consolidation of Emotional Memory in Healthy Children but Not in Children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Science.gov (United States)

Prehn-Kristensen, Alexander; Munz, Manuel; Molzow, Ina; Wilhelm, Ines; Wiesner, Christian D.; Baving, Lioba

2013-01-01

Fronto-limbic brain activity during sleep is believed to support the consolidation of emotional memories in healthy adults. Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is accompanied by emotional deficits coincidently caused by dysfunctional interplay of fronto-limbic circuits. This study aimed to examine the role of sleep in the consolidation of emotional memory in ADHD in the context of healthy development. 16 children with ADHD, 16 healthy children, and 20 healthy adults participated in this study. Participants completed an emotional picture recognition paradigm in sleep and wake control conditions. Each condition had an immediate (baseline) and delayed (target) retrieval session. The emotional memory bias was baseline–corrected, and groups were compared in terms of sleep-dependent memory consolidation (sleep vs. wake). We observed an increased sleep-dependent emotional memory bias in healthy children compared to children with ADHD and healthy adults. Frontal oscillatory EEG activity (slow oscillations, theta) during sleep correlated negatively with emotional memory performance in children with ADHD. When combining data of healthy children and adults, correlation coefficients were positive and differed from those in children with ADHD. Since children displayed a higher frontal EEG activity than adults these data indicate a decline in sleep-related consolidation of emotional memory in healthy development. In addition, it is suggested that deficits in sleep-related selection between emotional and non-emotional memories in ADHD exacerbate emotional problems during daytime as they are often reported in ADHD. PMID:23734235

Sleep promotes consolidation of emotional memory in healthy children but not in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Prehn-Kristensen, Alexander; Munz, Manuel; Molzow, Ina; Wilhelm, Ines; Wiesner, Christian D; Baving, Lioba

2013-01-01

Fronto-limbic brain activity during sleep is believed to support the consolidation of emotional memories in healthy adults. Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is accompanied by emotional deficits coincidently caused by dysfunctional interplay of fronto-limbic circuits. This study aimed to examine the role of sleep in the consolidation of emotional memory in ADHD in the context of healthy development. 16 children with ADHD, 16 healthy children, and 20 healthy adults participated in this study. Participants completed an emotional picture recognition paradigm in sleep and wake control conditions. Each condition had an immediate (baseline) and delayed (target) retrieval session. The emotional memory bias was baseline-corrected, and groups were compared in terms of sleep-dependent memory consolidation (sleep vs. wake). We observed an increased sleep-dependent emotional memory bias in healthy children compared to children with ADHD and healthy adults. Frontal oscillatory EEG activity (slow oscillations, theta) during sleep correlated negatively with emotional memory performance in children with ADHD. When combining data of healthy children and adults, correlation coefficients were positive and differed from those in children with ADHD. Since children displayed a higher frontal EEG activity than adults these data indicate a decline in sleep-related consolidation of emotional memory in healthy development. In addition, it is suggested that deficits in sleep-related selection between emotional and non-emotional memories in ADHD exacerbate emotional problems during daytime as they are often reported in ADHD.

Sleep reduces false memory in healthy older adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Lo, June C; Sim, Sam K Y; Chee, Michael W L

2014-04-01

To investigate the effects of post-learning sleep and sleep architecture on false memory in healthy older adults. Balanced, crossover design. False memory was induced using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm and assessed following nocturnal sleep and following a period of daytime wakefulness. Post-learning sleep structure was evaluated using polysomnography (PSG). Sleep research laboratory. Fourteen healthy older adults from the Singapore-Longitudinal Aging Brain Study (mean age ± standard deviation = 66.6 ± 4.1 y; 7 males). At encoding, participants studied lists of words that were semantically related to non-presented critical lures. At retrieval, they made "remember"/"know" and "new" judgments. Compared to wakefulness, post-learning sleep was associated with reduced "remember" responses, but not "know" responses to critical lures. In contrast, there were no significant differences in the veridical recognition of studied words, false recognition of unrelated distractors, discriminability, or response bias between the sleep and the wake conditions. More post-learning slow wave sleep was associated with greater reduction in false memory. In healthy older adults, sleep facilitates the reduction in false memory without affecting veridical memory. This benefit correlates with the amount of slow wave sleep in the post-learning sleep episode.

Acute effects on cardiovascular oscillations during controlled slow yogic breathing

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Om Lata Bhagat

2017-01-01

Interpretation & conclusions: Significant increase in cardiovascular oscillations and baroreflex recruitments during-ANB suggested a dynamic interaction between respiratory and cardiovascular system. Enhanced phasic relationship with some delay indicated the complexity of the system. It indicated that respiratory and cardiovascular oscillations were coupled through multiple regulatory mechanisms, such as mechanical coupling, baroreflex and central cardiovascular control.

Cortical deactivation induced by visual stimulation in human slow-wave sleep

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Born, Alfred Peter; Law, Ian; Lund, Torben E

2002-01-01

. It is unresolved whether this negative BOLD response pattern is of developmental neurobiological origin particular to a given age or to a general effect of sleep or sedative drugs. To further elucidate this issue, we used fMRI and positron emission tomography (PET) to study the brain activation pattern during......It has previously been demonstrated that sleeping and sedated young children respond with a paradoxical decrease in the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) signal in the rostro-medial occipital visual cortex during visual stimulation...... visual stimulation in spontaneously sleeping adult volunteers. In five sleeping volunteers fMRI studies confirmed a robust signal decrease during stimulation in the rostro-medial occipital cortex. A similar relative decrease at the same location was found during visual stimulation...

Sleep in the domestic hen (Gallus domesticus).

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van Luijtelaar, E L; van der Grinten, C P; Blokhuis, H J; Coenen, A M

1987-01-01

Electrophysiological recordings were made of five closely observed hens, all permanently implanted with both EEG and EMG electrodes. Five behavioural postures were distinguished and percentages of wakefulness, sleep and presumably paradoxical sleep (PS) were determined during the third and sixth hour of the dark period. Substantial agreement was generally found between behaviour and sleep with the exception of sitting or standing motionless with at least one eye open. During two thirds of this behavioural posture, the EEG showed large amplitude slow waves undistinguishable from slow wave sleep. Characteristics of PS were determined: periods were short, whereas its percentage increased during the night. Furthermore, EMG atonia was never found. An all night recording was made, and delta activity (2-5 Hz) was filtered and plotted against time for three of the hens. A significant decrease in delta activity across the night was found. Differences and similarities between sleep in hens and in mammals are discussed. Although large similarities exist it is concluded that some properties of birds' sleep make it unique and are a challenge for further study.

Fourier analysis of the parametric resonance in neutrino oscillations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koike, Masafumi; Ota, Toshihiko; Saito, Masako; Sato, Joe

2009-01-01

Parametric enhancement of the appearance probability of the neutrino oscillation under the inhomogeneous matter is studied. Fourier expansion of the matter density profile leads to a simple resonance condition and manifests that each Fourier mode modifies the energy spectrum of oscillation probability at around the corresponding energy; below the MSW resonance energy, a large-scale variation modifies the spectrum in high energies while a small-scale one does in low energies. In contrast to the simple parametric resonance, the enhancement of the oscillation probability is itself an slow oscillation as demonstrated by a numerical analysis with a single Fourier mode of the matter density. We derive an analytic solution to the evolution equation on the resonance energy, including the expression of frequency of the slow oscillation.

Plasmon field enhancement oscillations induced by strain-mediated coupling between a quantum dot and mechanical oscillator.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Yong

2017-06-23

We utilize the surface plasmon field of a metal nanoparticle (MNP) to show strain-mediated coupling in a quantum dot-mechanical resonator hybrid system including a quantum dot (QD) embedded within a conical nanowire (NW) and a MNP in the presence of an external field. Based on the numerical solutions of the master equation, we find that a slow oscillation, originating from the strain-mediated coupling between the QD and the NW, appears in the time evolution of the plasmon field enhancement. The results show that the period (about [Formula: see text]) of the slow oscillation is equal to that of the mechanical resonator of NW, which suggests that the time-resolved measurement of the plasmon field enhancement can be easily achieved based on the current experimental conditions. Its amplitude increases with the increasing strain-mediated coupling strength, and under certain conditions there is a linear relationship between them. The slow oscillation of the plasmon field enhancement provides valuable tools for measurements of the mechanical frequency and the strain-mediated coupling strength.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing and Slow Wave Sleep: A Putative Mechanism of Action.

Science.gov (United States)

Pagani, Marco; Amann, Benedikt L; Landin-Romero, Ramon; Carletto, Sara

2017-01-01

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is considered highly efficacious for the treatment of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and has proved to be a valid treatment approach with a wide range of applications. However, EMDR's mechanisms of action is not yet fully understood. This is an active area of clinical and neurophysiological research, and several different hypotheses have been proposed. This paper discusses a conjecture which focuses on the similarity between the delta waves recorded by electroencephalography during Slow Wave Sleep (SWS) and those registered upon typical EMDR bilateral stimulation (eye movements or alternate tapping) during recurrent distressing memories of an emotionally traumatic event. SWS appears to have a key role in memory consolidation and in the reorganization of distant functional networks, as well as Eye Movements seem to reduce traumatic episodic memory and favor the reconsolidation of new associated information. The SWS hypothesis may put forward an explanation of how EMDR works, and is discussed also in light of other theories and neurobiological findings.

Selective neuronal lapses precede human cognitive lapses following sleep deprivation.

Science.gov (United States)

Nir, Yuval; Andrillon, Thomas; Marmelshtein, Amit; Suthana, Nanthia; Cirelli, Chiara; Tononi, Giulio; Fried, Itzhak

2017-12-01

Sleep deprivation is a major source of morbidity with widespread health effects, including increased risk of hypertension, diabetes, obesity, heart attack, and stroke. Moreover, sleep deprivation brings about vehicle accidents and medical errors and is therefore an urgent topic of investigation. During sleep deprivation, homeostatic and circadian processes interact to build up sleep pressure, which results in slow behavioral performance (cognitive lapses) typically attributed to attentional thalamic and frontoparietal circuits, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Recently, through study of electroencephalograms (EEGs) in humans and local field potentials (LFPs) in nonhuman primates and rodents it was found that, during sleep deprivation, regional 'sleep-like' slow and theta (slow/theta) waves co-occur with impaired behavioral performance during wakefulness. Here we used intracranial electrodes to record single-neuron activities and LFPs in human neurosurgical patients performing a face/nonface categorization psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) over multiple experimental sessions, including a session after full-night sleep deprivation. We find that, just before cognitive lapses, the selective spiking responses of individual neurons in the medial temporal lobe (MTL) are attenuated, delayed, and lengthened. These 'neuronal lapses' are evident on a trial-by-trial basis when comparing the slowest behavioral PVT reaction times to the fastest. Furthermore, during cognitive lapses, LFPs exhibit a relative local increase in slow/theta activity that is correlated with degraded single-neuron responses and with baseline theta activity. Our results show that cognitive lapses involve local state-dependent changes in neuronal activity already present in the MTL.

Effect of Daytime Exercise on Sleep Eeg and Subjective Sleep

Science.gov (United States)

Sasazawa, Y.; Kawada, T.; Kiryu, Y.

1997-08-01

This study was designed to assess the effects of daytime physical exercise on the quality of objective and subjective sleep by examining all-night sleep EEGs. The subjects were five male students, aged 19 to 20 years, who were in the habit of performing regular daytime exercise. The sleep polygraphic parameters in this study were sleep stage time as a percentage of total sleep time (%S1, %S2, %S(3+4), %SREM, %MT), time in bed (TIB), sleep time (ST), total sleep time (TST), sleep onset latency (SOL), waking from sleep, sleep efficiency, number of awakenings, number of stage shifts, number of spindles, and percentages of α and δ waves, all of which were determined by an automatic computer analysis system. The OSA questionnaire was used to investigate subjective sleep. The five scales of the OSA used were sleepiness, sleep maintenance, worry, integrated sleep feeling, and sleep initiation. Each sleep parameter was compared in the exercise and the non-exercise groups. Two-way analysis of variance was applied using subject factor and exercise factor. The main effect of the subject was significant in all parameters and the main effect of exercise in %S(3+4), SOL and sleep efficiency, among the objective sleep parameters. The main effects of the subject, except sleepiness, were significant, as was the main effect of exercise on sleep initiation, among the subjective sleep parameters. These findings suggest that daytime exercise shortened sleep latency and prolonged slow-wave sleep, and that the subjects fell asleep more easily on exercise days. There were also significant individual differences in both the objective and subjective sleep parameters.

Ascent to moderate altitude impairs overnight memory improvements.

Science.gov (United States)

Tesler, Noemi; Latshang, Tsogyal D; Lo Cascio, Christian M; Stadelmann, Katrin; Stoewhas, Anne-Christin; Kohler, Malcolm; Bloch, Konrad E; Achermann, Peter; Huber, Reto

2015-02-01

Several studies showed beneficial effects of sleep on memory performance. Slow waves, the electroencephalographic characteristic of deep sleep, reflected on the neuronal level by synchronous slow oscillations, seem crucial for these benefits. Traveling to moderate altitudes decreases deep sleep. In a randomized cross-over design healthy male subjects performed a visuo-motor learning task in Zurich (490 m) and at Davos Jakobshorn (2590 m) in random order. Memory performance was assessed immediately after learning, before sleep, and in the morning after a night of sleep. Sleep EEG recordings were performed during the nights. Our findings show an altitude induced reduction of sleep dependent memory performance. Moreover, this impaired sleep dependent memory performance was associated with reduced slow wave derived measures of neuronal synchronization. Our results are consistent with a critical role of slow waves for the beneficial effects of sleep on memory that is susceptible to natural environmental influences. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sleep Supports the Slow Abstraction of Gist from Visual Perceptual Memories.

Science.gov (United States)

Lutz, Nicolas D; Diekelmann, Susanne; Hinse-Stern, Patricia; Born, Jan; Rauss, Karsten

2017-02-17

Sleep benefits the consolidation of individual episodic memories. In the long run, however, it may be more efficient to retain the abstract gist of single, related memories, which can be generalized to similar instances in the future. While episodic memory is enhanced after one night of sleep, effective gist abstraction is thought to require multiple nights. We tested this hypothesis using a visual Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm, examining gist abstraction and episodic-like memory consolidation after 20 min, after 10 hours, as well as after one year of retention. While after 10 hours, sleep enhanced episodic-like memory for single items, it did not affect gist abstraction. One year later, however, we found significant gist knowledge only if subjects had slept immediately after encoding, while there was no residual memory for individual items. These findings indicate that sleep after learning strengthens episodic-like memories in the short term and facilitates long-term gist abstraction.

Daily rhythms of the sleep-wake cycle

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Waterhouse Jim

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract The amount and timing of sleep and sleep architecture (sleep stages are determined by several factors, important among which are the environment, circadian rhythms and time awake. Separating the roles played by these factors requires specific protocols, including the constant routine and altered sleep-wake schedules. Results from such protocols have led to the discovery of the factors that determine the amounts and distribution of slow wave and rapid eye movement sleep as well as to the development of models to determine the amount and timing of sleep. One successful model postulates two processes. The first is process S, which is due to sleep pressure (and increases with time awake and is attributed to a 'sleep homeostat'. Process S reverses during slow wave sleep (when it is called process S'. The second is process C, which shows a daily rhythm that is parallel to the rhythm of core temperature. Processes S and C combine approximately additively to determine the times of sleep onset and waking. The model has proved useful in describing normal sleep in adults. Current work aims to identify the detailed nature of processes S and C. The model can also be applied to circumstances when the sleep-wake cycle is different from the norm in some way. These circumstances include: those who are poor sleepers or short sleepers; the role an individual's chronotype (a measure of how the timing of the individual's preferred sleep-wake cycle compares with the average for a population; and changes in the sleep-wake cycle with age, particularly in adolescence and aging, since individuals tend to prefer to go to sleep later during adolescence and earlier in old age. In all circumstances, the evidence that sleep times and architecture are altered and the possible causes of these changes (including altered S, S' and C processes are examined.

Solar filament material oscillations and drainage before eruption

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bi, Yi; Jiang, Yunchun; Yang, Jiayan; Hong, Junchao; Li, Haidong; Yang, Dan; Yang, Bo

2014-01-01

Both large-amplitude longitudinal (LAL) oscillations and material drainage in a solar filament are associated with the flow of material along the filament axis, often followed by an eruption. However, the relationship between these two motions and a subsequent eruption event is poorly understood. We analyze a filament eruption using EUV imaging data captured by the Atmospheric Imaging Array on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory and the Hα images from the Global Oscillation Network Group. Hours before the eruption, the filament was activated, with one of its legs undergoing a slow rising motion. The asymmetric activation inclined the filament relative to the solar surface. After the active phase, LAL oscillations were observed in the inclined filament. The oscillation period increased slightly over time, which may suggest that the magnetic fields supporting the filament evolve to be flatter during the slow rising phase. After the oscillations, a significant amount of filament material was drained toward one filament endpoint, followed immediately by the violent eruption of the filament. The material drainage may further support the change in magnetic topology prior to the eruption. Moreover, we suggest that the filament material drainage could play a role in the transition from a slow to a fast rise of the erupting filament.

Populations of striatal medium spiny neurons encode vibrotactile frequency in rats: modulation by slow wave oscillations.

Science.gov (United States)

Hawking, Thomas G; Gerdjikov, Todor V

2013-01-01

Dorsolateral striatum (DLS) is implicated in tactile perception and receives strong projections from somatosensory cortex. However, the sensory representations encoded by striatal projection neurons are not well understood. Here we characterized the contribution of DLS to the encoding of vibrotactile information in rats by assessing striatal responses to precise frequency stimuli delivered to a single vibrissa. We applied stimuli in a frequency range (45-90 Hz) that evokes discriminable percepts and carries most of the power of vibrissa vibration elicited by a range of complex fine textures. Both medium spiny neurons and evoked potentials showed tactile responses that were modulated by slow wave oscillations. Furthermore, medium spiny neuron population responses represented stimulus frequency on par with previously reported behavioral benchmarks. Our results suggest that striatum encodes frequency information of vibrotactile stimuli which is dynamically modulated by ongoing brain state.

Urodynamic function during sleep-like brain states in urethane anesthetized rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Crook, J; Lovick, T

2016-01-28

The aim was to investigate urodynamic parameters and functional excitability of the periaqueductal gray matter (PAG) during changes in sleep-like brain states in urethane anesthetized rats. Simultaneous recordings of detrusor pressure, external urethral sphincter (EUS) electromyogram (EMG), cortical electroencephalogram (EEG), and single-unit activity in the PAG were made during repeated voiding induced by continuous infusion of saline into the bladder. The EEG cycled between synchronized, high-amplitude slow wave activity (SWA) and desynchronized low-amplitude fast activity similar to slow wave and 'activated' sleep-like brain states. During (SWA, 0.5-1.5 Hz synchronized oscillation of the EEG waveform) voiding became more irregular than in the 'activated' brain state (2-5 Hz low-amplitude desynchronized EEG waveform) and detrusor void pressure threshold, void volume threshold and the duration of bursting activity in the external urethral sphincter EMG were raised. The spontaneous firing rate of 23/52 neurons recorded within the caudal PAG and adjacent tegmentum was linked to the EEG state, with the majority of responsive cells (92%) firing more slowly during SWA. Almost a quarter of the cells recorded (12/52) showed phasic changes in firing rate that were linked to the occurrence of voids. Inhibition (n=6), excitation (n=4) or excitation/inhibition (n=2) was seen. The spontaneous firing rate of 83% of the micturition-responsive cells was sensitive to changes in EEG state. In nine of the 12 responsive cells (75%) the responses were reduced during SWA. We propose that during different sleep-like brain states changes in urodynamic properties occur which may be linked to changing excitability of the micturition circuitry in the periaqueductal gray. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Dissimilarity of slow-wave activity enhancement by torpor and sleep deprivation in a hibernator

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Strijkstra, AM; Daan, S

1998-01-01

Sleep regulation processes have been hypothesized to be involved in function and timing of arousal episodes in hibernating ground squirrels. We investigated the importance of sleep regulation during arousal episodes by sleep deprivation experiments. After sleep deprivation of 4, 12, and 24 h,

Reinforcing rhythms in the sleeping brain with a computerized metronome

OpenAIRE

Oudiette, Delphine; Santostasi, Giovanni; Paller, Ken A.

2013-01-01

Sleep has many inherent benefits, including an important role in memory consolidation. In this issue of Neuron, Ngo et al. demonstrate that appropriately timed sounds delivered during sleep can invigorate electrophysiological oscillations conducive to memory stabilization.

A minimal model for a slow pacemaking neuron

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zakharov, D.G.; Kuznetsov, A.

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► We have constructed a phenomenological model for slow pacemaking neurons. ► The model implements a nonlinearity introduced by an ion-dependent current. ► The new nonlinear dependence allows for differentiating responses to various stimuli. ► We discuss implications of our results for a broad class of neurons. - Abstract: We have constructed a phenomenological model for slow pacemaking neurons. These are neurons that generate very regular periodic oscillations of the membrane potential. Many of these neurons also differentially respond to various types of stimulation. The model is based on FitzHugh–Nagumo (FHN) oscillator and implements a nonlinearity introduced by a current that depends on an ion concentration. The comparison with the original FHN oscillator has shown that the new nonlinear dependence allows for differentiating responses to various stimuli. We discuss implications of our results for a broad class of neurons.

Slow and fast light in semiconductor waveguides

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mørk, Jesper; Hansen, Per Lunnemann; Xue, Weiqi

2010-01-01

Investigations of slow and fast light effects in semiconductor waveguides entail interesting physics and point to a number of promising applications. In this review we give an overview of recent progress in the field, in particular focusing on the physical mechanisms of electromagnetically induced...... transparency and coherent population oscillations. While electromagnetically induced transparency has been the most important effect in realizing slowdown effects in atomic gasses, progress has been comparatively slow in semiconductors due to inherent problems of fast dephasing times and inhomogeneous...... broadening in quantum dots. The physics of electromagnetically induced transparency in semiconductors is discussed, emphasizing these limitations and recent suggestions for overcoming them. On the other hand, the mechanism of coherent population oscillations relies on wave mixing effects and is well suited...

Do Older Adults Need Sleep? A Review of Neuroimaging, Sleep, and Aging Studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Scullin, Michael K

2017-09-01

Sleep habits, sleep physiology, and sleep disorders change with increasing age. However, there is a longstanding debate regarding whether older adults need sleep to maintain health and daily functioning (reduced-sleep-need view). An alternative possibility is that all older adults need sleep, but that many older adults have lost the ability to obtain restorative sleep (reduced-sleep-ability view). Prior research using behavioral and polysomnography outcomes has not definitively disentangled the reduced-sleep-need and reduced-sleep-ability views. Therefore, this review examines the neuroimaging literature to determine whether age-related changes in sleep cause-or are caused by-age-related changes in brain structure, function, and pathology. In middle-aged and older adults, poorer sleep quality, greater nighttime hypoxia, and shorter sleep duration related to cortical thinning in frontal regions implicated in slow wave generation, in frontoparietal networks implicated in cognitive control, and in hippocampal regions implicated in memory consolidation. Furthermore, poor sleep quality was associated with higher amyloid burden and decreased connectivity in the default mode network, a network that is disrupted in the pathway to Alzheimer's disease. All adults need sleep, but cortical thinning and amyloidal deposition with advancing age may weaken the brain's ability to produce restorative sleep. Therefore, sleep in older adults may not always support identical functions for physical, mental, and cognitive health as in young adults.

Dynamical bifurcation in a system of coupled oscillators with slowly varying parameters

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Igor Parasyuk

2016-08-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with a fast-slow system representing n nonlinearly coupled oscillators with slowly varying parameters. We find conditions which guarantee that all omega-limit sets near the slow surface of the system are equilibria and invariant tori of all dimensions not exceeding n, the tori of dimensions less then n being hyperbolic. We show that a typical trajectory demonstrates the following transient process: while its slow component is far from the stationary points of the slow vector field, the fast component exhibits damping oscillations; afterwards, the former component enters and stays in a small neighborhood of some stationary point, and the oscillation amplitude of the latter begins to increase; eventually the trajectory is attracted by an n-dimesional invariant torus and a multi-frequency oscillatory regime is established.

WARMING UP FOR SLEEP - GROUND-SQUIRRELS SLEEP DURING AROUSALS FROM HIBERNATION

NARCIS (Netherlands)

DAAN, S; BARNES, BM; STRIJKSTRA, AM

1991-01-01

Hypothermia during mammalian hibernation is periodically interrupted by arousals to euthermy, the function of which is unknown. We report that arctic ground squirrels (Spermophilus parryii) consistently sleep during these arousals, and that their EEG shows the decrease in slow wave activity

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing and Slow Wave Sleep: A Putative Mechanism of Action

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marco Pagani

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR is considered highly efficacious for the treatment of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and has proved to be a valid treatment approach with a wide range of applications. However, EMDR’s mechanisms of action is not yet fully understood. This is an active area of clinical and neurophysiological research, and several different hypotheses have been proposed. This paper discusses a conjecture which focuses on the similarity between the delta waves recorded by electroencephalography during Slow Wave Sleep (SWS and those registered upon typical EMDR bilateral stimulation (eye movements or alternate tapping during recurrent distressing memories of an emotionally traumatic event. SWS appears to have a key role in memory consolidation and in the reorganization of distant functional networks, as well as Eye Movements seem to reduce traumatic episodic memory and favor the reconsolidation of new associated information. The SWS hypothesis may put forward an explanation of how EMDR works, and is discussed also in light of other theories and neurobiological findings.

Deep sleep after social stress : NREM sleep slow-wave activity is enhanced in both winners and losers of a conflict

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kamphuis, Jeanine; Lancel, Marike; Koolhaas, Jaap M.; Meerlo, Peter

Sleep is considered to be a recovery process of prior wakefulness. Not only duration of the waking period affects sleep architecture and sleep EEG, the quality of wakefulness is also highly important. Studies in rats have shown that social defeat stress, in which experimental animals are attacked

Different types of bursting calcium oscillations in non-excitable cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perc, Matjaz; Marhl, Marko

2003-01-01

In the paper different types of bursting Ca 2+ oscillations are presented. We analyse bursting behaviour in four recent mathematical models for Ca 2+ oscillations in non-excitable cells. Separately, regular, quasi-periodic, and chaotic bursting Ca 2+ oscillations are classified into several subtypes. The classification is based on the dynamics of separated fast and slow subsystems, the so-called fast-slow burster analysis. For regular bursting Ca 2+ oscillations two types of bursting are specified: Point-Point and Point-Cycle bursting. In particular, the slow passage effect, important for the Hopf-Hopf and SubHopf-SubHopf bursting subtypes, is explained by local divergence calculated for the fast subsystem. Quasi-periodic bursting Ca 2+ oscillations can be found in only one of the four studied mathematical models and appear via a homoclinic bifurcation with a homoclinic torus structure. For chaotic bursting Ca 2+ oscillations, we found that bursting patterns resulting from the period doubling root to chaos considerably differ from those appearing via intermittency and have to be treated separately. The analysis and classification of different types of bursting Ca 2+ oscillations provides better insight into mechanisms of complex intra- and intercellular Ca 2+ signalling. This improves our understanding of several important biological phenomena in cellular signalling like complex frequency-amplitude signal encoding and synchronisation of intercellular signal transduction between coupled cells in tissue

High-density EEG characterization of brain responses to auditory rhythmic stimuli during wakefulness and NREM sleep.

Science.gov (United States)

Lustenberger, Caroline; Patel, Yogi A; Alagapan, Sankaraleengam; Page, Jessica M; Price, Betsy; Boyle, Michael R; Fröhlich, Flavio

2018-04-01

Auditory rhythmic sensory stimulation modulates brain oscillations by increasing phase-locking to the temporal structure of the stimuli and by increasing the power of specific frequency bands, resulting in Auditory Steady State Responses (ASSR). The ASSR is altered in different diseases of the central nervous system such as schizophrenia. However, in order to use the ASSR as biological markers for disease states, it needs to be understood how different vigilance states and underlying brain activity affect the ASSR. Here, we compared the effects of auditory rhythmic stimuli on EEG brain activity during wake and NREM sleep, investigated the influence of the presence of dominant sleep rhythms on the ASSR, and delineated the topographical distribution of these modulations. Participants (14 healthy males, 20-33 years) completed on the same day a 60 min nap session and two 30 min wakefulness sessions (before and after the nap). During these sessions, amplitude modulated (AM) white noise auditory stimuli at different frequencies were applied. High-density EEG was continuously recorded and time-frequency analyses were performed to assess ASSR during wakefulness and NREM periods. Our analysis revealed that depending on the electrode location, stimulation frequency applied and window/frequencies analysed the ASSR was significantly modulated by sleep pressure (before and after sleep), vigilance state (wake vs. NREM sleep), and the presence of slow wave activity and sleep spindles. Furthermore, AM stimuli increased spindle activity during NREM sleep but not during wakefulness. Thus, (1) electrode location, sleep history, vigilance state and ongoing brain activity needs to be carefully considered when investigating ASSR and (2) auditory rhythmic stimuli during sleep might represent a powerful tool to boost sleep spindles. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sleep, sport, and the brain.

Science.gov (United States)

Halson, Shona L; Juliff, Laura E

2017-01-01

The recognition that sleep is one of the foundations of athlete performance is increasing both in the elite athlete arena as well as applied performance research. Sleep, as identified through sleep deprivation and sleep extension investigations, has a role in performance, illness, injury, metabolism, cognition, memory, learning, and mood. Elite athletes have been identified as having poorer quality and quantity of sleep in comparison to the general population. This is likely the result on training times, competition stress/anxiety, muscle soreness, caffeine use, and travel. Sleep, in particular slow wave sleep, provides a restorative function to the body to recover from prior wakefulness and fatigue by repairing processes and restoring energy. In addition, research in the general population is highlighting the importance of sleep on neurophysiology, cognitive function, and mood which may have implications for elite athlete performance. It is thus increased understanding of both the effects of sleep deprivation and potential mechanisms of influence on performance that may allow scientists and practitioners to positively influence sleep in athletes and ultimately maximize performances. © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Sleep spindle density in narcolepsy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Julie Anja Engelhard; Nikolic, Miki; Hvidtfelt, Mathias

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: Patients with narcolepsy type 1 (NT1) show alterations in sleep stage transitions, rapid-eye-movement (REM) and non-REM sleep due to the loss of hypocretinergic signaling. However, the sleep microstructure has not yet been evaluated in these patients. We aimed to evaluate whether...... the sleep spindle (SS) density is altered in patients with NT1 compared to controls and patients with narcolepsy type 2 (NT2). METHODS: All-night polysomnographic recordings from 28 NT1 patients, 19 NT2 patients, 20 controls (C) with narcolepsy-like symptoms, but with normal cerebrospinal fluid hypocretin...... levels and multiple sleep latency tests, and 18 healthy controls (HC) were included. Unspecified, slow, and fast SS were automatically detected, and SS densities were defined as number per minute and were computed across sleep stages and sleep cycles. The between-cycle trends of SS densities in N2...

Sleep in the Cape Mole Rat: A Short-Sleeping Subterranean Rodent.

Science.gov (United States)

Kruger, Jean-Leigh; Gravett, Nadine; Bhagwandin, Adhil; Bennett, Nigel C; Archer, Elizabeth K; Manger, Paul R

2016-01-01

The Cape mole rat Georychus capensis is a solitary subterranean rodent found in the western and southern Cape of South Africa. This approximately 200-gram bathyergid rodent shows a nocturnal circadian rhythm, but sleep in this species is yet to be investigated. Using telemetric recordings of the electroencephalogram (EEG) and electromyogram (EMG) in conjunction with video recordings, we were able to show that the Cape mole rat, like all other rodents, has sleep periods composed of both rapid eye movement (REM) and slow-wave (non-REM) sleep. These mole rats spent on average 15.4 h awake, 7.1 h in non-REM sleep and 1.5 h in REM sleep each day. Cape mole rats sleep substantially less than other similarly sized terrestrial rodents but have a similar percentage of total sleep time occupied by REM sleep. In addition, the duration of both non-REM and REM sleep episodes was markedly shorter in the Cape mole rat than has been observed in terrestrial rodents. Interestingly, these features (total sleep time and episode duration) are similar to those observed in another subterranean bathyergid mole rat, i.e. Fukomys mechowii. Thus, there appears to be a bathyergid type of sleep amongst the rodents that may be related to their environment and the effect of this on their circadian rhythm. Investigating further species of bathyergid mole rats may fully define the emerging picture of sleep in these subterranean African rodents. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

An 8-year old boy with continuous spikes and waves during slow sleep presenting with positive onconeuronal antibodies.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Lin-Yan; Shi, Xiu-Yu; Feng, Chen; Wang, Jian-Wen; Yang, Guan; Lammers, Stephen H T; Yang, Xiao Fan; Ebrahimi-Fakhari, Darius; Zou, Li-Ping

2015-03-01

To determine the etiology of epilepsy with continuous spikes and waves during slow sleep (CSWS)/electrical status epilepticus during sleep (ESES) in an 8-year old boy with a history of neuroblastoma and opsoclonus-myoclonus. A combination of clinical characterization and follow-up, video EEG and laboratory investigations. We report the case of an 8-year old boy with a history of neuroblastoma and opsoclonus-myoclonus, who presented with intellectual disability, pharmacotherapy-resistant epilepsy and CSWS/ESES. Although the patient's neuroblastoma had been successfully treated 8 years prior to presentation and an extensive workup did not show a tumor reoccurrence, testing for onconeuronal antibodies was positive for anti-Ma2 and anti-CV2/CRMP5 antibodies. High-dose intravenous methylprednisolone and a taper of oral methylprednisolone were given, leading to a significant clinical improvement. During the taper the patient's condition and EEG manifestations deteriorated again necessitating another cycle of steroid therapy, which lead to a stable improvement. During a 6-month follow-up no CSWS/ESES was seen on EEG and anti-Ma2 and anti-CV2/CRMP5 antibodies remained undetectable. This case suggests that onconeuronal antibodies may be involved in the pathogenesis of CSWS/ESES. Copyright © 2015 European Paediatric Neurology Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sleep-induced periodic breathing and apnea: a theoretical study.

Science.gov (United States)

Khoo, M C; Gottschalk, A; Pack, A I

1991-05-01

To elucidate the mechanisms that lead to sleep-disordered breathing, we have developed a mathematical model that allows for dynamic interactions among the chemical control of respiration, changes in sleep-waking state, and changes in upper airway patency. The increase in steady-state arterial PCO2 accompanying sleep is shown to be inversely related to the ventilatory response to CO2. Chemical control of respiration becomes less stable during the light stage of sleep, despite a reduction in chemoresponsiveness, due to a concomitant increase in "plant gain" (i.e., responsiveness of blood gases to ventilatory changes). The withdrawal of the "wakefulness drive" during sleep onset represents a strong perturbation to respiratory control: higher magnitudes and rates of withdrawal of this drive favor instability. These results may account for the higher incidence of periodic breathing observed during light sleep and sleep onset. Periodic ventilation can also result from repetitive alternations between sleep onset and arousal. The potential for instability is further compounded if the possibility of upper airway occlusion is also included. In systems with high controller gains, instability is mediated primarily through chemoreflex overcompensation. However, in systems with depressed chemoresponsiveness, rapid sleep onset and large blood gas fluctuations trigger repetitive episodes of arousal and hyperpnea alternating with apneas that may or may not be obstructive. Between these extremes, more complex patterns can arise from the interaction between chemoreflex-mediated oscillations of shorter-cycle-duration (approximately 36 s) and longer-wavelength (approximately 60-80 s) state-driven oscillations.

Critical evaluation of the effect of valerian extract on sleep structure and sleep quality.

Science.gov (United States)

Donath, F; Quispe, S; Diefenbach, K; Maurer, A; Fietze, I; Roots, I

2000-03-01

A carefully designed study assessed the short-term (single dose) and long-term (14 days with multiple dosage) effects of a valerian extract on both objective and subjective sleep parameters. The investigation was performed as a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over study. Sixteen patients (4 male, 12 female) with previously established psychophysiological insomnia (ICSD-code 1.A.1.), and with a median age of 49 (range: 22 to 55), were included in the study. The main inclusion criteria were reported primary insomnia according to ICSD criteria, which was confirmed by polysomnographic recording, and the absence of acute diseases. During the study, the patients underwent 8 polysomnographic recordings: i.e., 2 recordings (baseline and study night) at each time point at which the short and long-term effects of placebo and valerian were tested. The target variable of the study was sleep efficiency. Other parameters describing objective sleep structure were the usual features of sleep-stage analysis, based on the rules of Rechtschaffen and Kales (1968), and the arousal index (scored according to ASDA criteria, 1992) as a sleep microstructure parameter. Subjective parameters such as sleep quality, morning feeling, daytime performance, subjectively perceived duration of sleep latency, and sleep period time were assessed by means of questionnaires. After a single dose of valerian, no effects on sleep structure and subjective sleep assessment were observed. After multiple-dose treatment, sleep efficiency showed a significant increase for both the placebo and the valerian condition in comparison with baseline polysomnography. We confirmed significant differences between valerian and placebo for parameters describing slow-wave sleep. In comparison with the placebo, slow-wave sleep latency was reduced after administration of valerian (21.3 vs. 13.5 min respectively, p<0.05). The SWS percentage of time in bed (TIB) was increased after long-term valerian

Enhancement of Neocortical-Medial Temporal EEG Correlations during Non-REM Sleep

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nikolai Axmacher

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Interregional interactions of oscillatory activity are crucial for the integrated processing of multiple brain regions. However, while the EEG in virtually all brain structures passes through substantial modifications during sleep, it is still an open question whether interactions between neocortical and medial temporal EEG oscillations also depend on the state of alertness. Several previous studies in animals and humans suggest that hippocampal-neocortical interactions crucially depend on the state of alertness (i.e., waking state or sleep. Here, we analyzed scalp and intracranial EEG recordings during sleep and waking state in epilepsy patients undergoing presurgical evaluation. We found that the amplitudes of oscillations within the medial temporal lobe and the neocortex were more closely correlated during sleep, in particular during non-REM sleep, than during waking state. Possibly, the encoding of novel sensory inputs, which mainly occurs during waking state, requires that medial temporal dynamics are rather independent from neocortical dynamics, while the consolidation of memories during sleep may demand closer interactions between MTL and neocortex.

Sleep spindling and fluid intelligence across adolescent development: sex matters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Róbert eBódizs

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Evidence supports the intricate relationship between sleep electroencephalogram (EEG spindling and cognitive abilities in children and adults. Although sleep EEG changes during adolescence index fundamental brain reorganization, a detailed analysis of sleep spindling and the spindle-intelligence relationship was not yet provided for adolescents. Therefore, adolescent development of sleep spindle oscillations were studied in a home polysomnographic study focusing on the effects of chronological age and developmentally acquired overall mental efficiency (fluid IQ with sex as a potential modulating factor. Subjects were 24 healthy adolescents (12 males with an age range of 15–22 years (mean: 18 years and fluid IQ of 91-126 (mean: 104.12, Raven Progressive Matrices Test. Slow spindles (SSs and fast spindles (FSs were analyzed in 21 EEG derivations by using the individual adjustment method. A significant age-dependent increase in average FS density (r = .57; p = .005 was found. Moreover, fluid IQ correlated with FS density (r = .43; p = .04 and amplitude (r = .41; p = .049. The latter effects were entirely driven by particularly reliable FS-IQ correlations in females [r = .80 (p = .002 and r = .67 (p = .012, for density and amplitude, respectively]. Region-specific analyses revealed that these correlations peak in the fronto-central regions. The control of the age-dependence of FS measures and IQ scores did not considerably reduce the spindle-IQ correlations with respect to FS density. The only positive spindle-index of fluid IQ in males turned out to be the frequency of FSs (r = .60, p = .04. Increases in FS density during adolescence may index reshaped structural connectivity related to white matter maturation in the late developing human brain. The continued development over this age range of cognitive functions is indexed by specific measures of sleep spindling unravelling gender differences in adolescent brain maturation and perhaps cognitive

Short Meditation Trainings Enhance Non-REM Sleep Low-Frequency Oscillations.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniela Dentico

Full Text Available We have recently shown higher parietal-occipital EEG gamma activity during sleep in long-term meditators compared to meditation-naive individuals. This gamma increase was specific for NREM sleep, was present throughout the entire night and correlated with meditation expertise, thus suggesting underlying long-lasting neuroplastic changes induced through prolonged training. The aim of this study was to explore the neuroplastic changes acutely induced by 2 intensive days of different meditation practices in the same group of practitioners. We also repeated baseline recordings in a meditation-naive cohort to account for time effects on sleep EEG activity.High-density EEG recordings of human brain activity were acquired over the course of whole sleep nights following intervention.Sound-attenuated sleep research room.Twenty-four long-term meditators and twenty-four meditation-naïve controls.Two 8-h sessions of either a mindfulness-based meditation or a form of meditation designed to cultivate compassion and loving kindness, hereafter referred to as compassion meditation.We found an increase in EEG low-frequency oscillatory activities (1-12 Hz, centered around 7-8 Hz over prefrontal and left parietal electrodes across whole night NREM cycles. This power increase peaked early in the night and extended during the third cycle to high-frequencies up to the gamma range (25-40 Hz. There was no difference in sleep EEG activity between meditation styles in long-term meditators nor in the meditation naïve group across different time points. Furthermore, the prefrontal-parietal changes were dependent on meditation life experience.This low-frequency prefrontal-parietal activation likely reflects acute, meditation-related plastic changes occurring during wakefulness, and may underlie a top-down regulation from frontal and anterior parietal areas to the posterior parietal and occipital regions showing chronic, long-lasting plastic changes in long-term meditators.

Short Meditation Trainings Enhance Non-REM Sleep Low-Frequency Oscillations.

Science.gov (United States)

Dentico, Daniela; Ferrarelli, Fabio; Riedner, Brady A; Smith, Richard; Zennig, Corinna; Lutz, Antoine; Tononi, Giulio; Davidson, Richard J

2016-01-01

We have recently shown higher parietal-occipital EEG gamma activity during sleep in long-term meditators compared to meditation-naive individuals. This gamma increase was specific for NREM sleep, was present throughout the entire night and correlated with meditation expertise, thus suggesting underlying long-lasting neuroplastic changes induced through prolonged training. The aim of this study was to explore the neuroplastic changes acutely induced by 2 intensive days of different meditation practices in the same group of practitioners. We also repeated baseline recordings in a meditation-naive cohort to account for time effects on sleep EEG activity. High-density EEG recordings of human brain activity were acquired over the course of whole sleep nights following intervention. Sound-attenuated sleep research room. Twenty-four long-term meditators and twenty-four meditation-naïve controls. Two 8-h sessions of either a mindfulness-based meditation or a form of meditation designed to cultivate compassion and loving kindness, hereafter referred to as compassion meditation. We found an increase in EEG low-frequency oscillatory activities (1-12 Hz, centered around 7-8 Hz) over prefrontal and left parietal electrodes across whole night NREM cycles. This power increase peaked early in the night and extended during the third cycle to high-frequencies up to the gamma range (25-40 Hz). There was no difference in sleep EEG activity between meditation styles in long-term meditators nor in the meditation naïve group across different time points. Furthermore, the prefrontal-parietal changes were dependent on meditation life experience. This low-frequency prefrontal-parietal activation likely reflects acute, meditation-related plastic changes occurring during wakefulness, and may underlie a top-down regulation from frontal and anterior parietal areas to the posterior parietal and occipital regions showing chronic, long-lasting plastic changes in long-term meditators.

Assessment of sleep quality in powernapping

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kooravand Takht Sabzy, Bashaer; Thomsen, Carsten E

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study is to assess the Sleep Quality (SQ) in powernapping. The contributed factors for SQ assessment are time of Sleep Onset (SO), Sleep Length (SL), Sleep Depth (SD), and detection of sleep events (K-complex (KC) and Sleep Spindle (SS)). Data from daytime nap for 10 subjects, 2...... days each, including EEG and ECG were recorded. The SD and sleep events were analyzed by applying spectral analysis. The SO time was detected by a combination of signal spectral analysis, Slow Rolling Eye Movement (SREM) detection, Heart Rate Variability (HRV) analysis and EEG segmentation using both...... Autocorrelation Function (ACF), and Crosscorrelation Function (CCF) methods. The EEG derivation FP1-FP2 filtered in a narrow band and used as an alternative to EOG for SREM detection. The ACF and CCF segmentation methods were also applied for detection of sleep events. The ACF method detects segment boundaries...

A Ku-band magnetically insulated transmission line oscillator with overmoded slow-wave-structure

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Tao; He, Jun-Tao; Zhang, Jian-De; Li, Zhi-Qiang; Ling, Jun-Pu

2016-12-01

In order to enhance the power capacity, an improved Ku-band magnetically insulated transmission line oscillator (MILO) with overmoded slow-wave-structure (SWS) is proposed and investigated numerically and experimentally. The analysis of the dispersion relationship and the resonant curve of the cold test indicate that the device can operate at the near π mode of the TM01 mode, which is useful for mode selection and control. In the particle simulation, the improved Ku-band MILO generates a microwave with a power of 1.5 GW and a frequency of 12.3 GHz under an input voltage of 480 kV and input current of 42 kA. Finally, experimental investigation of the improved Ku-band MILO is carried out. A high-power microwave (HPM) with an average power of 800 MW, a frequency of 12.35 GHz, and pulse width of 35 ns is generated under a diode voltage of 500 kV and beam current of 43 kA. The consistency between the experimental and simulated far-field radiation pattern confirms that the operating mode of the improved Ku-band MILO is well controlled in π mode of the TM01 mode. Project supported partly by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61171021).

The 5-HT6 receptor antagonist idalopirdine potentiates the effects of donepezil on gamma oscillations in the frontal cortex of anesthetized and awake rats without affecting sleep-wake architecture.

Science.gov (United States)

Amat-Foraster, Maria; Leiser, Steven C; Herrik, Kjartan F; Richard, Nelly; Agerskov, Claus; Bundgaard, Christoffer; Bastlund, Jesper F; de Jong, Inge E M

2017-02-01

The 5-HT 6 receptor is a promising target for cognitive disorders, in particular for Alzheimer's disease (AD). The high affinity and selective 5-HT 6 receptor antagonist idalopirdine (Lu AE58054) is currently in development for mild-moderate AD as adjunct therapy to acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs). We studied the effects of idalopirdine alone and in combination with the AChEI donepezil on cortical function using two in vivo electrophysiological methods. Neuronal network oscillations in the frontal cortex were measured during electrical stimulation of the brainstem nucleus pontis oralis (nPO) in the anesthetized rat and by an electroencephalogram (EEG) in the awake, freely moving rat. In conjunction with the EEG study, we investigated the effects of idalopirdine and donepezil on sleep-wake architecture using telemetric polysomnography. Idalopirdine (2 mg/kg i.v.) increased gamma power in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) during nPO stimulation. Donepezil (0.3 and 1 mg/kg i.v.) also increased cortical gamma power and pretreatment with idalopirdine (2 mg/kg i.v.) potentiated and prolonged the effects of donepezil. Similarly, donepezil (1 and 3 mg/kg s.c.) dose-dependently increased frontal cortical gamma power in the freely moving rat and pretreatment with idalopirdine (10 mg/kg p.o.) augmented the effect of donepezil 1 mg/kg. Analysis of the sleep-wake architecture showed that donepezil (1 and 3 mg/kg s.c.) dose-dependently delayed sleep onset and decreased the time spent in both REM and non REM sleep stages. In contrast, idalopirdine (10 mg/kg p.o.) did not affect sleep-wake architecture nor the effects of donepezil. In summary, we show that idalopirdine potentiates the effects of donepezil on frontal cortical gamma oscillations, a pharmacodynamic biomarker associated with cognition, without modifying the effects of donepezil on sleep. The increased cortical excitability may contribute to the procognitive effects of idalopirdine in donepezil

First Imaging Observation of Standing Slow Wave in Coronal Fan Loops

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pant, V.; Tiwari, A.; Banerjee, D.; Yuan, D.

2017-01-01

We observe intensity oscillations along coronal fan loops associated with the active region AR 11428. The intensity oscillations were triggered by blast waves that were generated due to X-class flares in the distant active region AR 11429. To characterize the nature of oscillations, we created time–distance maps along the fan loops and noted that the intensity oscillations at two ends of the loops were out of phase. As we move along the fan loop, the amplitude of the oscillations first decreased and then increased. The out-of-phase nature together with the amplitude variation along the loop implies that these oscillations are very likely to be standing waves. The period of the oscillations is estimated to be ∼27 minutes, damping time to be ∼45 minutes, and phase velocity projected in the plane of sky to be ∼65–83 km s"−"1. The projected phase speeds were in the range of the acoustic speed of coronal plasma at about 0.6 MK, which further indicates that these are slow waves. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the existence of the standing slow waves in non-flaring fan loops.

First Imaging Observation of Standing Slow Wave in Coronal Fan Loops

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pant, V.; Tiwari, A.; Banerjee, D. [Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore 560 034 (India); Yuan, D. [Institute of Space Science and Applied Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen 518000 (China)

2017-09-20

We observe intensity oscillations along coronal fan loops associated with the active region AR 11428. The intensity oscillations were triggered by blast waves that were generated due to X-class flares in the distant active region AR 11429. To characterize the nature of oscillations, we created time–distance maps along the fan loops and noted that the intensity oscillations at two ends of the loops were out of phase. As we move along the fan loop, the amplitude of the oscillations first decreased and then increased. The out-of-phase nature together with the amplitude variation along the loop implies that these oscillations are very likely to be standing waves. The period of the oscillations is estimated to be ∼27 minutes, damping time to be ∼45 minutes, and phase velocity projected in the plane of sky to be ∼65–83 km s{sup −1}. The projected phase speeds were in the range of the acoustic speed of coronal plasma at about 0.6 MK, which further indicates that these are slow waves. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the existence of the standing slow waves in non-flaring fan loops.

The periodicity of sleep duration – an infradian rhythm in spontaneous living

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Wong SN

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Shi Ngar Wong, Mark Halaki, Chin Moi ChowDiscipline of Exercise and Sport Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, AustraliaAbstract: The sleep–wake cycle is a process not only dictated by homeostatic and circadian factors but also by social and environmental influences. Thus, the total sleep time partly reflects sleep need, which is integral to the dynamics of sleep loss recovery. This study explored the nature of the observed oscillations in total sleep time in healthy adults under spontaneous living conditions. Actigraph-measured sleep data for 13 healthy young male adults were collected over 14 consecutive days and analyzed for habitual sleep duration. The total sleep time periodicity was modeled using the cosinor method for each individual across the 14 days. The findings confirm the existence of periodicity in habitual sleep duration as there were clear periodic patterns in the majority of the participants. Although exclusive to each individual, the observed oscillations may be a resultant response of homeostatic sleep need, circadian timing, and/or social and environmental influences. These findings instigate further indepth studies into the periodicity of sleep duration in healthy individuals to provide a better understanding of sleep need in short versus long sleepers, in predicting work performance, and reducing sleepiness-related accidents following shift work, and how this periodicity may impact sleep treatment outcome in clinical populations.Keywords: sleep regulation, homeostasis, habitual sleep, spontaneous living, healthy males

Extratropical response to Fast and Slow episodes of Madden-Julian Oscillation in observation and using intervention experiments with CFSv2

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Yadav, P.; Straus, D. M.

2017-12-01

The Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) is a potential source of predictability in the extratropics in extended range weather forecasting. The nature of MJO is sporadic and therefore, the mid-latitude response may depend on the nature of the MJO event, in particular the phase speed. We discuss the results of our observational and modeling study of mid-latitude circulation response to Fast and Slow MJO episodes using wintertime ERA-Interim reanalysis data and the CFSv2 coupled model of NOAA. The observational study shows that the mid-latitude response to different propagating speeds is not the same. The propagation speed is defined by the time the OLR takes to propagate from phase 3 to phase 6. The mid-latitude response is assessed in terms of composite maps and frequency of occurrence of robust circulation regimes. Fast episode composite anomalies of 500hPa height show a developing Rossby wave in the mid-Pacific with downstream propagation through MJO phases 2- 4. Development of NAO+ teleconnection pattern is stronger in Slow that in Fast MJO episodes, and occurs with a greater time lag after MJO heating is in the Indian Ocean (phase 3). Previous results find an increase in occurrence of NAO- regime following phase 6. We have found that much of this behavior is due to the slow episodes. Based on these observational results, intervention experiments using CFSv2 are designed to better understand the impact of heating/cooling and to estimate mid-latitude response to Fast and Slow MJO episodes. The added heating experiments consist of 31 year reforecasts for December 1 initial conditions from CFS reanalysis (1980-2011) in which the identical MJO evolution of three-dimensional diabatic heating has been added, thus producing fast and slow MJO episodes with well-defined phase speeds. We will discuss the results of these experiments with a focus on understanding the role of phase speed and interference in setting up the response, and to understand the mechanisms that

Cortical deactivation induced by visual stimulation in human slow-wave sleep

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Born, Alfred Peter; Law, Ian; Lund, Torben E

2002-01-01

It has previously been demonstrated that sleeping and sedated young children respond with a paradoxical decrease in the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) signal in the rostro-medial occipital visual cortex during visual stimulation. It is unreso...... that this decrease was secondary to a relative rCBF decrease. Possible mechanisms for the paradoxical response pattern during sleep include an active inhibition of the visual cortex or a disruption of an energy-consuming process...

Age-Related Decline in Controlled Retrieval: The Role of the PFC and Sleep

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Kristine A. Wilckens

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Age-related cognitive impairments often include difficulty retrieving memories, particularly those that rely on executive control. In this paper we discuss the influence of the prefrontal cortex on memory retrieval, and the specific memory processes associated with the prefrontal cortex that decline in late adulthood. We conclude that preretrieval processes associated with preparation to make a memory judgment are impaired, leading to greater reliance on postretrieval processes. This is consistent with the view that impairments in executive control significantly contribute to deficits in controlled retrieval. Finally, we discuss age-related changes in sleep as a potential mechanism that contributes to deficiencies in executive control that are important for efficient retrieval. The sleep literature points to the importance of slow-wave sleep in restoration of prefrontal cortex function. Given that slow-wave sleep significantly declines with age, we hypothesize that age-related changes in slow-wave sleep could mediate age-related decline in executive control, manifesting a robust deficit in controlled memory retrieval processes. Interventions, like physical activity, that improve sleep could be effective methods to enhance controlled memory processes in late life.

Nonlocal synchronization in nearest neighbour coupled oscillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El-Nashar, H.F.; Elgazzar, A.S.; Cerdeira, H.A.

2002-02-01

We investigate a system of nearest neighbour coupled oscillators. We show that the nonlocal frequency synchronization, that might appear in such a system, occurs as a consequence of the nearest neighbour coupling. The power spectra of nonadjacent oscillators shows that there is no complete coincidence between all frequency peaks of the oscillators in the nonlocal cluster, while the peaks for neighbouring oscillators approximately coincide even if they are not yet in a cluster. It is shown that nonadjacent oscillators closer in frequencies, share slow modes with their adjacent oscillators which are neighbours in space. It is also shown that when a direct coupling between non-neighbours oscillators is introduced explicitly, the peaks of the spectra of the frequencies of those non-neighbours coincide. (author)

Plumes of neuronal activity propagate in three dimensions through the nuclear avian brain

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Beckers, Gabriël J L; van der Meij, Jacqueline; Lesku, John A.; Rattenborg, Niels C.

2014-01-01

Background: In mammals, the slow-oscillations of neuronal membrane potentials (reflected in the electroencephalogram as high-amplitude, slow-waves), which occur during non-rapid eye movement sleep and anesthesia, propagate across the neocortex largely as two-dimensional traveling waves. However, it

Effect of obstructive sleep apnea on the sleep architecture in cirrhosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Kappus, Matthew R; Leszczyszyn, David J; Moses, Leonard; Raman, Shekar; Heuman, Douglas M; Bajaj, Jasmohan S

2013-03-15

Sleep disturbances in cirrhosis are assumed to be due to hepatic encephalopathy (HE). The interaction between cirrhosis, prior HE, and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has not been evaluated. We aimed to evaluate the additional effect of cirrhosis with and without prior HE on the sleep architecture and perceived sleep disturbances of OSA patients. A case-control review of OSA patients who underwent polysomnography (PSG) in a liver-transplant center was performed. OSA patients with cirrhosis (with/without prior HE) were age-matched 1:1 with OSA patients without cirrhosis. Sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, sleep quality, and sleep architecture was compared between groups. Forty-nine OSA cirrhotic patients (age 57.4 ± 8.3 years, model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) 8.3 ± 5.4, 51% HCV, 20% prior HE) were age-matched 1:1 to OSA patients without cirrhosis. Apnea-hypopnea index, arousal index, sleep efficiency, daytime sleepiness, and effect of sleepiness on daily activities were similar between OSA patients with/ without cirrhosis. Sleep architecture, including %slow wave sleep (SWS), was also not different between the groups. MELD was positively correlated with time in early (N1) stage (r = 0.4, p = 0.03). All prior HE patients (n = 10) had a shift of the architecture towards early, non-restorative sleep (higher % [N2] stage [66 vs 52%, p = 0.005], lower % SWS [0 vs 29%, p = 0.02], lower REM latency [95 vs 151 minutes, p = 0.04]) compared to the rest. Alcoholic etiology was associated with higher latency to N1/N2 sleep, but no other effect on sleep architecture was seen. OSA can contribute to sleep disturbance in cirrhosis and should be considered in the differential of sleep disturbances in cirrhosis. Prior HE may synergize with OSA in worsening the sleep architecture.

Seasonal aspects of sleep in the Djungarian hamster

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Deboer Tom

2003-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Changes in photoperiod and ambient temperature trigger seasonal adaptations in the physiology and behaviour of many species, including the Djungarian hamster. Exposure of the hamsters to a short photoperiod and low ambient temperature leads to a reduction of the polyphasic distribution of sleep and waking over the light and dark period. In contrast, a long photoperiod enhances the daily sleep-wake amplitude leading to a decline of slow-wave activity in NREM sleep within the light period. It is unknown whether these changes can be attributed specifically to photoperiod and/or ambient temperature, or whether endogenous components are contributing factors. The influence of endogenous factors was investigated by recording sleep in Djungarian hamsters invariably maintained at a low ambient temperature and fully adapted to a short photoperiod. The second recording was performed when they had returned to summer physiology, despite the maintenance of the 'winter' conditions. Results Clear winter-summer differences were seen in sleep distribution, while total sleep time was unchanged. A significantly higher light-dark cycle modulation in NREM sleep, REM sleep and waking was observed in hamsters in the summer physiological state compared to those in the winter state. Moreover, only in summer, REM sleep episodes were longer and waking bouts were shorter during the light period compared to the dark period. EEG power in the slow-wave range (0.75–4.0 Hz in both NREM sleep and REM sleep was higher in animals in the summer physiological state than in those in the 'winter' state. In winter SWA in NREM sleep was evenly distributed over the 24 h, while in summer it decreased during the light period and increased during the dark period. Conclusion Endogenous changes in the organism underlie the differences in sleep-wake redistribution we have observed previously in hamsters recorded in a short and long photoperiod.

Cellular and chemical neuroscience of mammalian sleep.

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Datta, Subimal

2010-05-01

Extraordinary strides have been made toward understanding the complexities and regulatory mechanisms of sleep over the past two decades thanks to the help of rapidly evolving technologies. At its most basic level, mammalian sleep is a restorative process of the brain and body. Beyond its primary restorative purpose, sleep is essential for a number of vital functions. Our primary research interest is to understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of sleep and its cognitive functions. Here I will reflect on our own research contributions to 50 years of extraordinary advances in the neurobiology of slow-wave sleep (SWS) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep regulation. I conclude this review by suggesting some potential future directions to further our understanding of the neurobiology of sleep. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

REM Sleep Phase Preference in the Crepuscular Octodon degus Assessed by Selective REM Sleep Deprivation

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Ocampo-Garcés, Adrián; Hernández, Felipe; Palacios, Adrian G.

2013-01-01

Study Objectives: To determine rapid eye movement (REM) sleep phase preference in a crepuscular mammal (Octodon degus) by challenging the specific REM sleep homeostatic response during the diurnal and nocturnal anticrepuscular rest phases. Design: We have investigated REM sleep rebound, recovery, and documented REM sleep propensity measures during and after diurnal and nocturnal selective REM sleep deprivations. Subjects: Nine male wild-captured O. degus prepared for polysomnographic recordings Interventions: Animals were recorded during four consecutive baseline and two separate diurnal or nocturnal deprivation days, under a 12:12 light-dark schedule. Three-h selective REM sleep deprivations were performed, starting at midday (zeitgeber time 6) or midnight (zeitgeber time 18). Measurements and Results: Diurnal and nocturnal REM sleep deprivations provoked equivalent amounts of REM sleep debt, but a consistent REM sleep rebound was found only after nocturnal deprivation. The nocturnal rebound was characterized by a complete recovery of REM sleep associated with an augment in REM/total sleep time ratio and enhancement in REM sleep episode consolidation. Conclusions: Our results support the notion that the circadian system actively promotes REM sleep. We propose that the sleep-wake cycle of O. degus is modulated by a chorus of circadian oscillators with a bimodal crepuscular modulation of arousal and a unimodal promotion of nocturnal REM sleep. Citation: Ocampo-Garcés A; Hernández F; Palacios AG. REM sleep phase preference in the crepuscular Octodon degus assessed by selective REM sleep deprivation. SLEEP 2013;36(8):1247-1256. PMID:23904685

A comparison of two sleep spindle detection methods based on all night averages: individually adjusted versus fixed frequencies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Péter Przemyslaw Ujma

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Sleep spindles are frequently studied for their relationship with state and trait cognitive variables, and they are thought to play an important role in sleep-related memory consolidation. Due to their frequent occurrence in NREM sleep, the detection of sleep spindles is only feasible using automatic algorithms, of which a large number is available. We compared subject averages of the spindle parameters computed by a fixed frequency (11-13 Hz for slow spindles, 13-15 Hz for fast spindles automatic detection algorithm and the individual adjustment method (IAM, which uses individual frequency bands for sleep spindle detection. Fast spindle duration and amplitude are strongly correlated in the two algorithms, but there is little overlap in fast spindle density and slow spindle parameters in general. The agreement between fixed and manually determined sleep spindle frequencies is limited, especially in case of slow spindles. This is the most likely reason for the poor agreement between the two detection methods in case of slow spindle parameters. Our results suggest that while various algorithms may reliably detect fast spindles, a more sophisticated algorithm primed to individual spindle frequencies is necessary for the detection of slow spindles as well as individual variations in the number of spindles in general.

GABA(B) receptors, schizophrenia and sleep dysfunction: a review of the relationship and its potential clinical and therapeutic implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Kantrowitz, Joshua; Citrome, Leslie; Javitt, Daniel

2009-08-01

Evidence for an intrinsic relationship between sleep, cognition and the symptomatic manifestations of schizophrenia is accumulating. This review presents evidence for the possible utility of GABA(B) receptor agonists for the treatment of subjective and objective sleep abnormalities related to schizophrenia. At the phenotypic level, sleep disturbance occurs in 16-30% of patients with schizophrenia and is related to reduced quality of life and poor coping skills. On the neurophysiological level, studies suggest that sleep deficits reflect a core component of schizophrenia. Specifically, slow-wave sleep deficits, which are inversely correlated with cognition scores, are seen. Moreover, sleep plays an increasingly well documented role in memory consolidation in schizophrenia. Correlations of slow-wave sleep deficits with impaired reaction time and declarative memory have also been reported. Thus, both behavioural insomnia and sleep architecture are critical therapeutic targets in patients with schizophrenia. However, long-term treatment with antipsychotics often results in residual sleep dysfunction and does not improve slow-wave sleep, and adjunctive GABA(A) receptor modulators, such as benzodiazepines and zolpidem, can impair sleep architecture and cognition in schizophrenia. GABA(B) receptor agonists have therapeutic potential in schizophrenia. These agents have minimal effect on rapid eye movement sleep while increasing slow-wave sleep. Preclinical associations with increased expression of genes related to slow-wave sleep production and circadian rhythm function have also been reported. GABA(B) receptor deficits result in a sustained hyperdopaminergic state and can be reversed by a GABA(B) receptor agonist. Genetic, postmortem and electrophysiological studies also associate GABA(B) receptors with schizophrenia. While studies thus far have not shown significant effects, prior focus on the use of GABA(B) receptor agonists has been on the positive symptoms of

Effects of SWS deprivation on subsequent EEG power density and spontaneous sleep duration

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dijk, Derk Jan; Beersma, Domien G.M.

In order to test predictions of the 2-process model of sleep regulation, the effects of slow wave sleep (SWS) deprivation by acoustic stimulation during the first part of the sleep period on EEG power density and sleep duration were investigated in 2 experiments. In the first experiment, 8 subjects

Acute effect of carbamazepine on corticothalamic 5-9-Hz and thalamocortical spindle (10-16-Hz) oscillations in the rat.

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Thomas W; O'Brien, Terence J; Kulikova, Sofya P; Reid, Christopher A; Morris, Margaret J; Pinault, Didier

2014-03-01

A major side effect of carbamazepine (CBZ), a drug used to treat neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders, is drowsiness, a state characterized by increased slow-wave oscillations with the emergence of sleep spindles in the electroencephalogram (EEG). We conducted cortical EEG and thalamic cellular recordings in freely moving or lightly anesthetized rats to explore the impact of CBZ within the intact corticothalamic (CT)-thalamocortical (TC) network, more specifically on CT 5-9-Hz and TC spindle (10-16-Hz) oscillations. Two to three successive 5-9-Hz waves were followed by a spindle in the cortical EEG. A single systemic injection of CBZ (20 mg/kg) induced a significant increase in the power of EEG 5-9-Hz oscillations and spindles. Intracellular recordings of glutamatergic TC neurons revealed 5-9-Hz depolarizing wave-hyperpolarizing wave sequences prolonged by robust, rhythmic spindle-frequency hyperpolarizing waves. This hybrid sequence occurred during a slow hyperpolarizing trough, and was at least 10 times more frequent under the CBZ condition than under the control condition. The hyperpolarizing waves reversed at approximately -70 mV, and became depolarizing when recorded with KCl-filled intracellular micropipettes, indicating that they were GABAA receptor-mediated potentials. In neurons of the GABAergic thalamic reticular nucleus, the principal source of TC GABAergic inputs, CBZ augmented both the number and the duration of sequences of rhythmic spindle-frequency bursts of action potentials. This indicates that these GABAergic neurons are responsible for the generation of at least the spindle-frequency hyperpolarizing waves in TC neurons. In conclusion, CBZ potentiates GABAA receptor-mediated TC spindle oscillations. Furthermore, we propose that CT 5-9-Hz waves can trigger TC spindles. © 2013 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Effects of various transport inhibitors on oscillating TGF pressure responses in the rat

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Leyssac, P P; Holstein-Rathlou, N H

1986-01-01

caused by the solvent (Ringer solution). Acetazolamide (0.5 mM) stimulated a slow (30 mHz) oscillation and often activated a fast (130-190 mHz) rhythm. Furosemide (FUR) (0.1-2.0 mM) abolished the slow oscillation and caused the intratubular pressure to rise by 2-3 mm Hg. FUR (0.05 mM) caused partial...

Opposite effects of sleep deprivation on the continuous reaction times in patients with liver cirrhosis and normal persons.

Science.gov (United States)

Lauridsen, Mette Munk; Frøjk, Jesper; de Muckadell, Ove B Schaffalitzky; Vilstrup, Hendrik

2014-09-01

The continuous reaction times (CRT) method describes arousal functions. Reaction time instability in a patient with liver disease indicates covert hepatic encephalopathy (cHE). The effects of sleep deprivation are unknown although cirrhosis patients frequently suffer from sleep disorders. The aim of this study was to determine if sleep deprivation influences the CRT test. Eighteen cirrhosis patients and 27 healthy persons were tested when rested and after one night's sleep deprivation. The patients filled out validated sleep quality questionnaires. Seven patients (38%) had unstable reaction times (a CRTindex sleep that was not related to their CRT tests before or after the sleep deprivation. In the healthy participants, the sleep deprivation slowed their reaction times by 11% (p sleep deprivation normalized or improved the reaction time stability of the patients with a CRTindex below 1.9 and had no effect in the patients with a CRTindex above 1.9. There was no relation between reported sleep quality and reaction time results. Thus, in cirrhosis patients, sleep disturbances do not lead to 'falsely' slowed and unstable reaction times. In contrast, the acute sleep deprivation slowed and destabilized the reaction times of the healthy participants. This may have negative consequences for decision-making.

Reinforcing rhythms in the sleeping brain with a computerized metronome.

Science.gov (United States)

Oudiette, Delphine; Santostasi, Giovanni; Paller, Ken A

2013-05-08

Sleep has many inherent benefits, including an important role in memory consolidation. In this issue of Neuron, Ngo et al. (2013b) demonstrate that appropriately timed sounds delivered during sleep can invigorate electrophysiological oscillations conducive to memory stabilization. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Impact of Acute Sleep Deprivation on Sarcasm Detection.

Science.gov (United States)

Deliens, Gaétane; Stercq, Fanny; Mary, Alison; Slama, Hichem; Cleeremans, Axel; Peigneux, Philippe; Kissine, Mikhail

2015-01-01

There is growing evidence that sleep plays a pivotal role on health, cognition and emotional regulation. However, the interplay between sleep and social cognition remains an uncharted research area. In particular, little is known about the impact of sleep deprivation on sarcasm detection, an ability which, once altered, may hamper everyday social interactions. The aim of this study is to determine whether sleep-deprived participants are as able as sleep-rested participants to adopt another perspective in gauging sarcastic statements. At 9am, after a whole night of sleep (n = 15) or a sleep deprivation night (n = 15), participants had to read the description of an event happening to a group of friends. An ambiguous voicemail message left by one of the friends on another's phone was then presented, and participants had to decide whether the recipient would perceive the message as sincere or as sarcastic. Messages were uttered with a neutral intonation and were either: (1) sarcastic from both the participant's and the addressee's perspectives (i.e. both had access to the relevant background knowledge to gauge the message as sarcastic), (2) sarcastic from the participant's but not from the addressee's perspective (i.e. the addressee lacked context knowledge to detect sarcasm) or (3) sincere. A fourth category consisted in messages sarcastic from both the participant's and from the addressee's perspective, uttered with a sarcastic tone. Although sleep-deprived participants were as accurate as sleep-rested participants in interpreting the voice message, they were also slower. Blunted reaction time was not fully explained by generalized cognitive slowing after sleep deprivation; rather, it could reflect a compensatory mechanism supporting normative accuracy level in sarcasm understanding. Introducing prosodic cues compensated for increased processing difficulties in sarcasm detection after sleep deprivation. Our findings support the hypothesis that sleep deprivation might

EEG transients in the sigma range during non-REM sleep predict learning in dogs

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Iotchev, I.B.; Kis, A.; Bodizs, R.; Luijtelaar, E.L.J.M. van; Kubinyi, E.

2017-01-01

Sleep spindles are phasic bursts of thalamo-cortical activity, visible in the cortex as transient oscillations in the sigma range (usually defined in humans as 12-14 or 9-16 Hz). They have been associated with sleep-dependent memory consolidation and sleep stability in humans and rodents.

From excitability to oscillations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Postnov, D. E.; Neganova, A. Y.; Jacobsen, J. C. B.

2013-01-01

One consequence of cell-to-cell communication is the appearance of synchronized behavior, where many cells cooperate to generate new dynamical patterns. We present a simple functional model of vasomotion based on the concept of a two-mode oscillator with dual interactions: via relatively slow dif...

Targeted Memory Reactivation during Sleep Depends on Prior Learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Creery, Jessica D; Oudiette, Delphine; Antony, James W; Paller, Ken A

2015-05-01

When sounds associated with learning are presented again during slow-wave sleep, targeted memory reactivation (TMR) can produce improvements in subsequent location recall. Here we used TMR to investigate memory consolidation during an afternoon nap as a function of prior learning. Twenty healthy individuals (8 male, 19-23 y old). Participants learned to associate each of 50 common objects with a unique screen location. When each object appeared, its characteristic sound was played. After electroencephalography (EEG) electrodes were applied, location recall was assessed for each object, followed by a 90-min interval for sleep. During EEG-verified slow-wave sleep, half of the sounds were quietly presented over white noise. Recall was assessed 3 h after initial learning. A beneficial effect of TMR was found in the form of higher recall accuracy for cued objects compared to uncued objects when pre-sleep accuracy was used as an explanatory variable. An analysis of individual differences revealed that this benefit was greater for participants with higher pre-sleep recall accuracy. In an analysis for individual objects, cueing benefits were apparent as long as initial recall was not highly accurate. Sleep physiology analyses revealed that the cueing benefit correlated with delta power and fast spindle density. These findings substantiate the use of targeted memory reactivation (TMR) methods for manipulating consolidation during sleep. TMR can selectively strengthen memory storage for object-location associations learned prior to sleep, except for those near-perfectly memorized. Neural measures found in conjunction with TMR-induced strengthening provide additional evidence about mechanisms of sleep consolidation. © 2015 Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC.

Alcohol and the sleeping brain.

Science.gov (United States)

Colrain, Ian M; Nicholas, Christian L; Baker, Fiona C

2014-01-01

Alcohol acts as a sedative that interacts with several neurotransmitter systems important in the regulation of sleep. Acute administration of large amounts of alcohol prior to sleep leads to decreased sleep-onset latency and changes in sleep architecture early in the night, when blood alcohol levels are high, with subsequent disrupted, poor-quality sleep later in the night. Alcohol abuse and dependence are associated with chronic sleep disturbance, lower slow-wave sleep, and more rapid-eye-movement sleep than normal, that last long into periods of abstinence and may play a role in relapse. This chapter outlines the evidence for acute and chronic alcohol effects on sleep architecture and sleep electroencephalogram, evidence for tolerance with repeated administration, and possible underlying neurochemical mechanisms for alcohol's effects on sleep. Also discussed are sex differences as well as effects of alcohol on sleep homeostasis and circadian regulation. Evidence for the role of sleep disruption as a risk factor for developing alcohol dependence is discussed in the context of research conducted in adolescents. The utility of sleep-evoked potentials in the assessment of the effects of alcoholism on sleep and the brain and in abstinence-mediated recovery is also outlined. The chapter concludes with a series of questions that need to be answered to determine the role of sleep and sleep disturbance in the development and maintenance of problem drinking and the potential beneficial effects of the treatment of sleep disorders for maintenance of abstinence in alcoholism. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Excessive sleep need following traumatic brain injury: a case-control study of 36 patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Sommerauer, Michael; Valko, Philipp O; Werth, Esther; Baumann, Christian R

2013-12-01

Increased sleep need following traumatic brain injury, referred to in this study as post-traumatic pleiosomnia, is common, but so far its clinical impact and therapeutic implications have not been characterized. We present a case-control study of 36 patients with post-traumatic pleiosomnia, defined by an increased sleep need of at least 2 h per 24 h after traumatic brain injury, compared to 36 controls. We assessed detailed history, sleep-activity patterns with sleep logs and actigraphy, nocturnal sleep with polysomnography and daytime sleep propensity with multiple sleep latency tests. Actigraphy recordings revealed that traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients had longer estimated sleep durations than controls (10.8 h per 24 h, compared to 7.3 h). When using sleep logs, TBI patients underestimated their sleep need. During nocturnal sleep, patients had higher amounts of slow-wave sleep than controls (20 versus 13.8%). Multiple sleep latency tests revealed excessive daytime sleepiness in 15 patients (42%), and 10 of them had signs of chronic sleep deprivation. We conclude that post-traumatic pleiosomnia may be even more frequent than reported previously, because affected patients often underestimate their actual sleep need. Furthermore, these patients exhibit an increase in slow-wave sleep which may reflect recovery mechanisms, intrinsic consequences of diffuse brain damage or relative sleep deprivation. © 2013 European Sleep Research Society.

Reduction in time-to-sleep through EEG based brain state detection and audio stimulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhuo Zhang; Cuntai Guan; Ti Eu Chan; Juanhong Yu; Aung Aung Phyo Wai; Chuanchu Wang; Haihong Zhang

2015-08-01

We developed an EEG- and audio-based sleep sensing and enhancing system, called iSleep (interactive Sleep enhancement apparatus). The system adopts a closed-loop approach which optimizes the audio recording selection based on user's sleep status detected through our online EEG computing algorithm. The iSleep prototype comprises two major parts: 1) a sleeping mask integrated with a single channel EEG electrode and amplifier, a pair of stereo earphones and a microcontroller with wireless circuit for control and data streaming; 2) a mobile app to receive EEG signals for online sleep monitoring and audio playback control. In this study we attempt to validate our hypothesis that appropriate audio stimulation in relation to brain state can induce faster onset of sleep and improve the quality of a nap. We conduct experiments on 28 healthy subjects, each undergoing two nap sessions - one with a quiet background and one with our audio-stimulation. We compare the time-to-sleep in both sessions between two groups of subjects, e.g., fast and slow sleep onset groups. The p-value obtained from Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test is 1.22e-04 for slow onset group, which demonstrates that iSleep can significantly reduce the time-to-sleep for people with difficulty in falling sleep.

Sleep: An Open-Source Python Software for Visualization, Analysis, and Staging of Sleep Data.

Science.gov (United States)

Combrisson, Etienne; Vallat, Raphael; Eichenlaub, Jean-Baptiste; O'Reilly, Christian; Lajnef, Tarek; Guillot, Aymeric; Ruby, Perrine M; Jerbi, Karim

2017-01-01

We introduce Sleep, a new Python open-source graphical user interface (GUI) dedicated to visualization, scoring and analyses of sleep data. Among its most prominent features are: (1) Dynamic display of polysomnographic data, spectrogram, hypnogram and topographic maps with several customizable parameters, (2) Implementation of several automatic detection of sleep features such as spindles, K-complexes, slow waves, and rapid eye movements (REM), (3) Implementation of practical signal processing tools such as re-referencing or filtering, and (4) Display of main descriptive statistics including publication-ready tables and figures. The software package supports loading and reading raw EEG data from standard file formats such as European Data Format, in addition to a range of commercial data formats. Most importantly, Sleep is built on top of the VisPy library, which provides GPU-based fast and high-level visualization. As a result, it is capable of efficiently handling and displaying large sleep datasets. Sleep is freely available (http://visbrain.org/sleep) and comes with sample datasets and an extensive documentation. Novel functionalities will continue to be added and open-science community efforts are expected to enhance the capacities of this module.

Sleep: An Open-Source Python Software for Visualization, Analysis, and Staging of Sleep Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Etienne Combrisson

2017-09-01

Full Text Available We introduce Sleep, a new Python open-source graphical user interface (GUI dedicated to visualization, scoring and analyses of sleep data. Among its most prominent features are: (1 Dynamic display of polysomnographic data, spectrogram, hypnogram and topographic maps with several customizable parameters, (2 Implementation of several automatic detection of sleep features such as spindles, K-complexes, slow waves, and rapid eye movements (REM, (3 Implementation of practical signal processing tools such as re-referencing or filtering, and (4 Display of main descriptive statistics including publication-ready tables and figures. The software package supports loading and reading raw EEG data from standard file formats such as European Data Format, in addition to a range of commercial data formats. Most importantly, Sleep is built on top of the VisPy library, which provides GPU-based fast and high-level visualization. As a result, it is capable of efficiently handling and displaying large sleep datasets. Sleep is freely available (http://visbrain.org/sleep and comes with sample datasets and an extensive documentation. Novel functionalities will continue to be added and open-science community efforts are expected to enhance the capacities of this module.

The periodicity of sleep duration – an infradian rhythm in spontaneous living

OpenAIRE

Wong, Shi Ngar; Halaki,Mark; Chow,Chin Moi

2013-01-01

Shi Ngar Wong, Mark Halaki, Chin Moi ChowDiscipline of Exercise and Sport Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, AustraliaAbstract: The sleep–wake cycle is a process not only dictated by homeostatic and circadian factors but also by social and environmental influences. Thus, the total sleep time partly reflects sleep need, which is integral to the dynamics of sleep loss recovery. This study explored the nature of the observed oscillations in total sleep time in healthy adults u...

Weakly Coupled Oscillators in a Slowly Varying World

OpenAIRE

Park, Youngmin; Ermentrout, Bard

2016-01-01

We extend the theory of weakly coupled oscillators to incorporate slowly varying inputs and parameters. We employ a combination of regular perturbation and an adiabatic approximation to derive equations for the phase-difference between a pair of oscillators. We apply this to the simple Hopf oscillator and then to a biophysical model. The latter represents the behavior of a neuron that is subject to slow modulation of a muscarinic current such as would occur during transient attention through ...

Hippocampal sharp wave/ripples during sleep for consolidation of associative memory.

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Wiâm Ramadan

Full Text Available The beneficial effect of sleep on memory has been well-established by extensive research on humans, but the neurophysiological mechanisms remain a matter of speculation. This study addresses the hypothesis that the fast oscillations known as ripples recorded in the CA1 region of the hippocampus during slow wave sleep (SWS may provide a physiological substrate for long term memory consolidation. We trained rats in a spatial discrimination task to retrieve palatable reward in three fixed locations. Hippocampal local field potentials and cortical EEG were recorded for 2 h after each daily training session. There was an increase in ripple density during SWS after early training sessions, in both trained rats and in rats randomly rewarded for exploring the maze. In rats learning the place -reward association, there was a striking further significant increase in ripple density correlated with subsequent improvements in behavioral performance as the rat learned the spatial discrimination aspect of the task. The results corroborate others showing an experience-dependent increase in ripple activity and associated ensemble replay after exploratory activity, but in addition, for the first time, reveal a clear further increase in ripple activity related to associative learning based on spatial discrimination.

Electroencephalogram Power Density and Slow Wave Sleep as a Function of Prior Waking and Circadian Phase

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dijk, Derk-Jan; Brunner, Daniel P.; Beersma, Domien G.M.; Borbély, Alexander A.

1990-01-01

Human sleep electroencephalograms, recorded in four experiments, were subjected to spectral analysis. Waking prior to sleep varied from 12 to 36 h and sleep was initiated at different circadian phases. Power density of delta and theta frequencies in rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep and non-REM (NREM)

Slow and fast light effects in semiconductor waveguides for applications in microwave photonics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Xue, Weiqi; Chen, Yaohui; Öhman, Filip

2009-01-01

We review the theory of slow and fast light effects due to coherent population oscillations in semiconductor waveguides, and potential applications of these effects in microwave photonic systems as RF phase shifters. In order to satisfy the application requirement of 360º RF phase shift at differ......We review the theory of slow and fast light effects due to coherent population oscillations in semiconductor waveguides, and potential applications of these effects in microwave photonic systems as RF phase shifters. In order to satisfy the application requirement of 360º RF phase shift...

Sleep physiology in toddlers: Effects of missing a nap on subsequent night sleep

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Jonathan M. Lassonde

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The shift from a biphasic to a monophasic sleep schedule is a fundamental milestone in early childhood. This transition, however, may result in periods of acute sleep loss as children may nap on some but not all days. Although data indicating the behavioral consequences of nap deprivation in young children are accumulating, little is known about changes to sleep neurophysiology following daytime sleep loss. This study addresses this gap in knowledge by examining the effects of acute nap deprivation on subsequent nighttime sleep electroencephalographic (EEG parameters in toddlers. Healthy children (n=25; 11 males; ages 30–36 months followed a strict sleep schedule for ≥5 days before sleep EEG recordings performed on 2 non-consecutive days: one after 13 h of prior wakefulness and another at the same clock time but preceded by a daytime nap. Total slow-wave energy (SWE was computed as cumulative slow-wave activity (SWA; EEG power in 0.75–4.5 Hz range over time. Nap and subsequent night SWE were added and compared to SWE of the night after a missed nap. During the night following a missed nap, children fell asleep faster (11.9±8.7 min versus 37.3±22.1 min; d=1.6, p=0.01, slept longer (10.1±0.7 h versus 9.6±0.6 h; d=0.7, p<0.01 and exhibited greater SWA (133.3±37.5% versus 93.0±4.7%; d=0.9, p<0.01 compared to a night after a daytime nap. SWE for combined nap and subsequent night sleep did not significantly differ from the night following nap deprivation (12141.1±3872.9 μV²*h versus 11,588±3270.8 μV²*h; d=0.6, p=0.12. However, compared to a night following a missed nap, children experienced greater time in bed (13.0±0.8 h versus 10.9±0.5 h; d=3.1, p<0.01 and total sleep time (11.2±0.8 h versus 10.1±0.7 h; d=1.4, p<0.01. Shorter sleep latency, longer sleep duration, and increased SWA in the night following a missed nap indicate that toddlers experience a physiologically meaningful homeostatic challenge after prolonged

Light slow-down in semiconductor waveguides due to population pulsations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mørk, Jesper; Kjær, Rasmus; Poel, Mike van der

2005-01-01

This study theoretically analyzes the prospect of inducing light-slow down in a semiconductor waveguide based on coherent population oscillation. Experimental observations of the effect are also presented....

Resting-state slow wave power, healthy aging and cognitive performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Vlahou, Eleni L; Thurm, Franka; Kolassa, Iris-Tatjana; Schlee, Winfried

2014-05-29

Cognitive functions and spontaneous neural activity show significant changes over the life-span, but the interrelations between age, cognition and resting-state brain oscillations are not well understood. Here, we assessed performance on the Trail Making Test and resting-state magnetoencephalographic (MEG) recordings from 53 healthy adults (18-89 years old) to investigate associations between age-dependent changes in spontaneous oscillatory activity and cognitive performance. Results show that healthy aging is accompanied by a marked and linear decrease of resting-state activity in the slow frequency range (0.5-6.5 Hz). The effects of slow wave power on cognitive performance were expressed as interactions with age: For older (>54 years), but not younger participants, enhanced delta and theta power in temporal and central regions was positively associated with perceptual speed and executive functioning. Consistent with previous work, these findings substantiate further the important role of slow wave oscillations in neurocognitive function during healthy aging.

Interaction of Glycolysis and Mitochondrial Respiration in Metabolic Oscillations of Pancreatic Islets

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bertram, Richard; Satin, Leslie S.; Pedersen, Morten Gram

2007-01-01

Insulin secretion from pancreatic ß-cells is oscillatory, with a typical period of 2–7 min, reflecting oscillations in membrane potential and the cytosolic Ca2+ concentration. Our central hypothesis is that the slow 2–7 min oscillations are due to glycolytic oscillations, whereas faster oscillati...

Differential effects of sodium oxybate and baclofen on EEG, sleep, neurobehavioral performance, and memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Vienne, Julie; Lecciso, Gianpaolo; Constantinescu, Irina; Schwartz, Sophie; Franken, Paul; Heinzer, Raphaël; Tafti, Mehdi

2012-08-01

Sodium oxybate (SO) is a GABAβ agonist used to treat the sleep disorder narcolepsy. SO was shown to increase slow wave sleep (SWS) and EEG delta power (0.75-4.5 Hz), both indexes of NREM sleep (NREMS) intensity and depth, suggesting that SO enhances recuperative function of NREM. We investigated whether SO induces physiological deep sleep. SO was administered before an afternoon nap or before the subsequent experimental night in 13 healthy volunteers. The effects of SO were compared to baclofen (BAC), another GABAβ receptor agonist, to assess the role of GABAβ receptors in the SO response. As expected, a nap significantly decreased sleep need and intensity the subsequent night. Both drugs reversed this nap effect on the subsequent night by decreasing sleep latency and increasing total sleep time, SWS during the first NREMS episode, and EEG delta and theta (0.75-7.25 Hz) power during NREMS. The SO-induced increase in EEG delta and theta power was, however, not specific to NREMS and was also observed during REM sleep (REMS) and wakefulness. Moreover, the high levels of delta power during a nap following SO administration did not affect delta power the following night. SO and BAC taken before the nap did not improve subsequent psychomotor performance and subjective alertness, or memory consolidation. Finally, SO and BAC strongly promoted the appearance of sleep onset REM periods. The SO-induced EEG slow waves seem not to be functionally similar to physiological slow waves. Our findings also suggest a role for GABAβ receptors in REMS generation.

Circadian distribution of sleep phases after major abdominal surgery

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gogenur, I.; Wildschiotz, G.; Rosenberg, J.

2008-01-01

Background. It is believed that the severely disturbed night-time sleep architecture after surgery is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity with rebound of rapid eye movement (REM). The daytime sleep pattern of patients after major general surgery has not been investigated before. We...... nights after operation. Sleep was scored independently by two blinded observers and the recordings were reported as awake, light sleep (LS, stages I and II), slow wave sleep (SWS, stages III and IV), and REM sleep. Results. There was significantly increased REM sleep (P=0.046), LS (P=0.020), and reduced...... time awake (P=0.016) in the postoperative daytime period compared with the preoperative daytime period. Five patients had REM sleep during the daytime after surgery. Three of these patients did not have REM sleep during the preceding postoperative night. There was significantly reduced night-time REM...

Effects of Diet on Sleep Quality.

Science.gov (United States)

St-Onge, Marie-Pierre; Mikic, Anja; Pietrolungo, Cara E

2016-09-01

There is much emerging information surrounding the impact of sleep duration and quality on food choice and consumption in both children and adults. However, less attention has been paid to the effects of dietary patterns and specific foods on nighttime sleep. Early studies have shown that certain dietary patterns may affect not only daytime alertness but also nighttime sleep. In this review, we surveyed the literature to describe the role of food consumption on sleep. Research has focused on the effects of mixed meal patterns, such as high-carbohydrate plus low-fat or low-carbohydrate diets, over the short term on sleep. Such studies highlight a potential effect of macronutrient intakes on sleep variables, particularly alterations in slow wave sleep and rapid eye movement sleep with changes in carbohydrate and fat intakes. Other studies instead examined the intake of specific foods, consumed at a fixed time relative to sleep, on sleep architecture and quality. Those foods, specifically milk, fatty fish, tart cherry juice, and kiwifruit, are reviewed here. Studies provide some evidence for a role of certain dietary patterns and foods in the promotion of high-quality sleep, but more studies are necessary to confirm those preliminary findings. © 2016 American Society for Nutrition.

Magnetically insulated transmission line oscillator

Science.gov (United States)

Bacon, L.D.; Ballard, W.P.; Clark, M.C.; Marder, B.M.

1987-05-19

A magnetically insulated transmission line oscillator employs self-generated magnetic fields to generate microwave energy. An anode of the oscillator includes slow-wave structures which are formed of a plurality of thin conductive vanes defining cavities therebetween, and a gap is formed between the anode and a cathode of the oscillator. In response to a pulsed voltage applied to the anode and cathode, self-generated magnetic fields are produced in a cross-field orientation with respect to the orientation of the electric field between the anode and the cathode. The cross-field magnetic fields insulate the flow of electrons in the gap and confine the flow of electrons within the gap. 11 figs.

CHILD SLEEP ONTOGENY AND APPLICATION OF THE STANDARDIZED QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE EVALUATION OF CHILD BEHAVIOUR DURING SLEEP

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I. A. Kelmanson

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The questions of the ontogeny of a child’s sleep, starting with the stage of fetation, are considered. Data on the formation of certain fetal conditions that are analogues of fast and slow sleep in the postnatal period are given. The most important neurobiological preconditions for the formation of the child’s behavioral states are discussed, beginning with the neonatal period and until adolescence. Information on the specifics of the formation of periods of sleep and waking in infants, born in the outcome of premature birth, is presented. Changes in the bioelectrical activity of the brain in various states of the child at different stages of ontogeny are considered. The rationale for the risk of forming certain variants of sleep disorders in children of different age groups is given. The Russian-language version of the standardized questionnaire Child’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ, designed to detect sleep disorders in preschool and school-age children on the basis of parents’ questionnaires, is developed. 

Impact of Acute Sleep Deprivation on Sarcasm Detection.

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Gaétane Deliens

Full Text Available There is growing evidence that sleep plays a pivotal role on health, cognition and emotional regulation. However, the interplay between sleep and social cognition remains an uncharted research area. In particular, little is known about the impact of sleep deprivation on sarcasm detection, an ability which, once altered, may hamper everyday social interactions. The aim of this study is to determine whether sleep-deprived participants are as able as sleep-rested participants to adopt another perspective in gauging sarcastic statements. At 9am, after a whole night of sleep (n = 15 or a sleep deprivation night (n = 15, participants had to read the description of an event happening to a group of friends. An ambiguous voicemail message left by one of the friends on another's phone was then presented, and participants had to decide whether the recipient would perceive the message as sincere or as sarcastic. Messages were uttered with a neutral intonation and were either: (1 sarcastic from both the participant's and the addressee's perspectives (i.e. both had access to the relevant background knowledge to gauge the message as sarcastic, (2 sarcastic from the participant's but not from the addressee's perspective (i.e. the addressee lacked context knowledge to detect sarcasm or (3 sincere. A fourth category consisted in messages sarcastic from both the participant's and from the addressee's perspective, uttered with a sarcastic tone. Although sleep-deprived participants were as accurate as sleep-rested participants in interpreting the voice message, they were also slower. Blunted reaction time was not fully explained by generalized cognitive slowing after sleep deprivation; rather, it could reflect a compensatory mechanism supporting normative accuracy level in sarcasm understanding. Introducing prosodic cues compensated for increased processing difficulties in sarcasm detection after sleep deprivation. Our findings support the hypothesis that sleep

Sleep spindling and fluid intelligence across adolescent development: sex matters.

Science.gov (United States)

Bódizs, Róbert; Gombos, Ferenc; Ujma, Péter P; Kovács, Ilona

2014-01-01

Evidence supports the intricate relationship between sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) spindling and cognitive abilities in children and adults. Although sleep EEG changes during adolescence index fundamental brain reorganization, a detailed analysis of sleep spindling and the spindle-intelligence relationship was not yet provided for adolescents. Therefore, adolescent development of sleep spindle oscillations were studied in a home polysomnographic study focusing on the effects of chronological age and developmentally acquired overall mental efficiency (fluid IQ) with sex as a potential modulating factor. Subjects were 24 healthy adolescents (12 males) with an age range of 15-22 years (mean: 18 years) and fluid IQ of 91-126 (mean: 104.12, Raven Progressive Matrices Test). Slow spindles (SSs) and fast spindles (FSs) were analyzed in 21 EEG derivations by using the individual adjustment method (IAM). A significant age-dependent increase in average FS density (r = 0.57; p = 0.005) was found. Moreover, fluid IQ correlated with FS density (r = 0.43; p = 0.04) and amplitude (r = 0.41; p = 0.049). The latter effects were entirely driven by particularly reliable FS-IQ correlations in females [r = 0.80 (p = 0.002) and r = 0.67 (p = 0.012), for density and amplitude, respectively]. Region-specific analyses revealed that these correlations peak in the fronto-central regions. The control of the age-dependence of FS measures and IQ scores did not considerably reduce the spindle-IQ correlations with respect to FS density. The only positive spindle-index of fluid IQ in males turned out to be the frequency of FSs (r = 0.60, p = 0.04). Increases in FS density during adolescence may index reshaped structural connectivity related to white matter maturation in the late developing human brain. The continued development over this age range of cognitive functions is indexed by specific measures of sleep spindling unraveling gender differences in adolescent brain maturation and perhaps

From perception to action: phase-locked gamma oscillations correlate with reaction times in a speeded response task

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Körner Ursula

2007-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Phase-locked gamma oscillations have so far mainly been described in relation to perceptual processes such as sensation, attention or memory matching. Due to its very short latency (≈90 ms such oscillations are a plausible candidate for very rapid integration of sensory and motor processes. Results We measured EEG in 13 healthy participants in a speeded reaction task. Participants had to press a button as fast as possible whenever a visual stimulus was presented. The stimulus was always identical and did not have to be discriminated from other possible stimuli. In trials in which the participants showed a fast response, a slow negative potential over central electrodes starting approximately 800 ms before the response and highly phase-locked gamma oscillations over central and posterior electrodes between 90 and 140 ms after the stimulus were observed. In trials in which the participants showed a slow response, no slow negative potential was observed and phase-locked gamma oscillations were significantly reduced. Furthermore, for slow response trials the phase-locked gamma oscillations were significantly delayed with respect to fast response trials. Conclusion These results indicate the relevance of phase-locked gamma oscillations for very fast (not necessarily detailed integration processes.

Chimera States in Neural Oscillators

Science.gov (United States)

Bahar, Sonya; Glaze, Tera

2014-03-01

Chimera states have recently been explored both theoretically and experimentally, in various coupled nonlinear oscillators, ranging from phase-oscillator models to coupled chemical reactions. In a chimera state, both coherent and incoherent (or synchronized and desynchronized) states occur simultaneously in populations of identical oscillators. We investigate chimera behavior in a population of neural oscillators using the Huber-Braun model, a Hodgkin-Huxley-like model originally developed to characterize the temperature-dependent bursting behavior of mammalian cold receptors. One population of neurons is allowed to synchronize, with each neuron receiving input from all the others in its group (global within-group coupling). Subsequently, a second population of identical neurons is placed under an identical global within-group coupling, and the two populations are also coupled to each other (between-group coupling). For certain values of the coupling constants, the neurons in the two populations exhibit radically different synchronization behavior. We will discuss the range of chimera activity in the model, and discuss its implications for actual neural activity, such as unihemispheric sleep.

Sleep: The hebbian reinforcement of the local inhibitory synapses.

Science.gov (United States)

Touzet, Claude

2015-09-01

Sleep is ubiquitous among the animal realm, and represents about 30% of our lives. Despite numerous efforts, the reason behind our need for sleep is still unknown. The Theory of neuronal Cognition (TnC) proposes that sleep is the period of time during which the local inhibitory synapses (in particular the cortical ones) are replenished. Indeed, as long as the active brain stays awake, hebbian learning guarantees that efficient inhibitory synapses lose their efficiency – just because they are efficient at avoiding the activation of the targeted neurons. Since hebbian learning is the only known mechanism of synapse modification, it follows that to replenish the inhibitory synapses' efficiency, source and targeted neurons must be activated together. This is achieved by a local depolarization that may travel (wave). The period of time during which such slow waves are experienced has been named the "slow-wave sleep" (SWS). It is cut into several pieces by shorter periods of paradoxical sleep (REM) which activity resembles that of the awake state. Indeed, SWS – because it only allows local neural activation – decreases the excitatory long distance connections strength. To avoid losing the associations built during the awake state, these long distance activations are played again during the REM sleep. REM and SWS sleeps act together to guarantee that when the subject awakes again, his inhibitory synaptic efficiency is restored and his (excitatory) long distance associations are still there. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The effects of sleep restriction and sleep deprivation in producing false memories.

Science.gov (United States)

Chatburn, Alex; Kohler, Mark J; Payne, Jessica D; Drummond, Sean P A

2017-01-01

False memory has been claimed to be the result of an associative process of generalisation, as well as to be representative of memory errors. These can occur at any stage of memory encoding, consolidation, or retrieval, albeit through varied mechanisms. The aim of this paper is to experimentally determine: (i) if cognitive dysfunction brought about by sleep loss at the time of stimulus encoding can influence false memory production; and (ii) whether this relationship holds across sensory modalities. Subjects undertook both the Deese-Roedigger-McDermott (DRM) false memory task and a visual task designed to produce false memories. Performance was measured while subjects were well-rested (9h Time in Bed or TIB), and then again when subjects were either sleep restricted (4h TIB for 4 nights) or sleep deprived (30h total SD). Results indicate (1) that partial and total sleep loss produced equivalent effects in terms of false and veridical verbal memory, (2) that subjects performed worse after sleep loss (regardless of whether this was partial or total sleep loss) on cued recognition-based false and veridical verbal memory tasks, and that sleep loss interfered with subjects' ability to recall veridical, but not false memories under free recall conditions, and (3) that there were no effects of sleep loss on a visual false memory task. This is argued to represent the dysfunction and slow repair of an online verbal associative process in the brain following inadequate sleep. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Unified thalamic model generates multiple distinct oscillations with state-dependent entrainment by stimulation.

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Guoshi Li

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The thalamus plays a critical role in the genesis of thalamocortical oscillations, yet the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. To understand whether the isolated thalamus can generate multiple distinct oscillations, we developed a biophysical thalamic model to test the hypothesis that generation of and transition between distinct thalamic oscillations can be explained as a function of neuromodulation by acetylcholine (ACh and norepinephrine (NE and afferent synaptic excitation. Indeed, the model exhibited four distinct thalamic rhythms (delta, sleep spindle, alpha and gamma oscillations that span the physiological states corresponding to different arousal levels from deep sleep to focused attention. Our simulation results indicate that generation of these distinct thalamic oscillations is a result of both intrinsic oscillatory cellular properties and specific network connectivity patterns. We then systematically varied the ACh/NE and input levels to generate a complete map of the different oscillatory states and their transitions. Lastly, we applied periodic stimulation to the thalamic network and found that entrainment of thalamic oscillations is highly state-dependent. Our results support the hypothesis that ACh/NE modulation and afferent excitation define thalamic oscillatory states and their response to brain stimulation. Our model proposes a broader and more central role of the thalamus in the genesis of multiple distinct thalamo-cortical rhythms than previously assumed.

Formation and suppression of acoustic memories during human sleep.

Science.gov (United States)

Andrillon, Thomas; Pressnitzer, Daniel; Léger, Damien; Kouider, Sid

2017-08-08

Sleep and memory are deeply related, but the nature of the neuroplastic processes induced by sleep remains unclear. Here, we report that memory traces can be both formed or suppressed during sleep, depending on sleep phase. We played samples of acoustic noise to sleeping human listeners. Repeated exposure to a novel noise during Rapid Eye Movements (REM) or light non-REM (NREM) sleep leads to improvements in behavioral performance upon awakening. Strikingly, the same exposure during deep NREM sleep leads to impaired performance upon awakening. Electroencephalographic markers of learning extracted during sleep confirm a dissociation between sleep facilitating memory formation (light NREM and REM sleep) and sleep suppressing learning (deep NREM sleep). We can trace these neural changes back to transient sleep events, such as spindles for memory facilitation and slow waves for suppression. Thus, highly selective memory processes are active during human sleep, with intertwined episodes of facilitative and suppressive plasticity.Though memory and sleep are related, it is still unclear whether new memories can be formed during sleep. Here, authors show that people could learn new sounds during REM or light non-REM sleep, but that learning was suppressed when sounds were played during deep NREM sleep.

EEG Changes across Multiple Nights of Sleep Restriction and Recovery in Adolescents: The Need for Sleep Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Ong, Ju Lynn; Lo, June C; Gooley, Joshua J; Chee, Michael W L

2016-06-01

To investigate sleep EEG changes in adolescents across 7 nights of sleep restriction to 5 h time in bed [TIB]) and 3 recovery nights of 9 h TIB. A parallel-group design, quasi-laboratory study was conducted in a boarding school. Fifty-five healthy adolescents (25 males, age = 15-19 y) who reported habitual TIBs of approximately 6 h on week nights (group average) but extended their sleep on weekends were randomly assigned to Sleep Restriction (SR) or Control groups. Participants underwent a 2-week protocol comprising 3 baseline nights (TIB = 9 h), 7 nights of sleep opportunity manipulation (TIB = 5 h for the SR and 9 h for the Control group), and 3 nights of recovery sleep (TIB = 9 h). Polysomnography was obtained on two baseline, three manipulation, and two recovery nights. Across the sleep restriction nights, total SWS duration was preserved relative to the 9 h baseline sleep opportunity, while other sleep stages were reduced. Considering only the first 5 h of sleep opportunity, SR participants had reduced N1 duration and wake after sleep onset (WASO), and increased total sleep time (TST), rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, and slow wave sleep (SWS) relative to baseline. Total REM sleep, N2, and TST duration remained above baseline levels by the third recovery sleep episode. In spite of preservation of SWS duration over multiple nights of sleep restriction, adolescents accustomed to curtailing nocturnal sleep on school day nights evidence residual effects on sleep macro-structure, even after three nights of recovery sleep. Older teenagers may not be as resilient to successive nights of sleep restriction as is commonly believed. © 2016 Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC.

Ventilatory oscillations at exercise: effects of hyperoxia, hypercapnia, and acetazolamide.

Science.gov (United States)

Hermand, Eric; Lhuissier, François J; Larribaut, Julie; Pichon, Aurélien; Richalet, Jean-Paul

2015-06-01

Periodic breathing has been found in patients with heart failure and sleep apneas, and in healthy subjects in hypoxia, during sleep and wakefulness, at rest and, recently, at exercise. To unravel the cardiorespiratory parameters liable to modulate the amplitude and period of ventilatory oscillations, 26 healthy subjects were tested under physiological (exercise) and environmental (hypoxia, hyperoxia, hyperoxic hypercapnia) stresses, and under acetazolamide (ACZ) treatment. A fast Fourier transform spectral analysis of breath-by-breath ventilation (V˙E) evidenced an increase in V˙E peak power under hypercapnia (vs. normoxia and hyperoxia, P power was positively related to cardiac output (Q˙c) and V˙E in hyperoxia (P oscillations by increasing Q˙c and V˙E, whereas ACZ decreases ventilatory instability in part by a contrasting action on O2 and CO2 sensing. An intrinsic oscillator might modulate ventilation through a complex system where peripheral chemoreflex would play a key role. © 2015 The Authors. Physiological Reports published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the American Physiological Society and The Physiological Society.

Sex Differences in the Sleep EEG of Young Adults : Visual Scoring and Spectral Analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dijk, Derk Jan; Beersma, Domien G.M.; Bloem, Gerda M.

1989-01-01

Baseline sleep of 13 men (mean age of 23.5 years) and 15 women (21.9 years) was analyzed. Visual scoring of the electroencephalograms (EEGs) revealed no significant differences between the sexes in the amounts of slow-wave sleep and rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep. Spectral analysis, however,

Parkinsonian Rest Tremor Is Associated With Modulations of Subthalamic High-Frequency Oscillations.

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Hirschmann, Jan; Butz, Markus; Hartmann, Christian J; Hoogenboom, Nienke; Özkurt, Tolga E; Vesper, Jan; Wojtecki, Lars; Schnitzler, Alfons

2016-10-01

High frequency oscillations (>200 Hz) have been observed in the basal ganglia of PD patients and were shown to be modulated by the administration of levodopa and voluntary movement. The objective of this study was to test whether the power of high-frequency oscillations in the STN is associated with spontaneous manifestation of parkinsonian rest tremor. The electromyogram of both forearms and local field potentials from the STN were recorded in 11 PD patients (10 men, age 58 [9.4] years, disease duration 9.2 [6.3] years). Patients were recorded at rest and while performing repetitive hand movements before and after levodopa intake. High-frequency oscillation power was compared across epochs containing rest tremor, tremor-free rest, or voluntary movement and related to the tremor cycle. We observed prominent slow (200-300 Hz) and fast (300-400 Hz) high-frequency oscillations. The ratio between slow and fast high-frequency oscillation power increased when tremor became manifest. This increase was consistent across nuclei (94%) and occurred in medication ON and OFF. The ratio outperformed other potential markers of tremor, such as power at individual tremor frequency, beta power, or low gamma power. For voluntary movement, we did not observe a significant difference when compared with rest or rest tremor. Finally, rhythmic modulations of high-frequency oscillation power occurred within the tremor cycle. Subthalamic high-frequency oscillation power is closely linked to the occurrence of parkinsonian rest tremor. The balance between slow and fast high-frequency oscillation power combines information on motor and medication state. © 2016 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society. © 2016 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

Female impulsive aggression: a sleep research perspective.

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Lindberg, Nina; Tani, Pekka; Putkonen, Hanna; Sailas, Eila; Takala, Pirjo; Eronen, Markku; Virkkunen, Matti

2009-01-01

The rate of violent crimes among girls and women appears to be increasing. One in every five female prisoners has been reported to have antisocial personality disorder. However, it has been quite unclear whether the impulsive, aggressive behaviour among women is affected by the same biological mechanisms as among men. Psychiatric sleep research has attempted to identify diagnostically sensitive and specific sleep patterns associated with particular disorders. Most psychiatric disorders are typically characterized by a severe sleep disturbance associated with decreased amounts of slow wave sleep (SWS), the physiologically significant, refreshing part of sleep. Among men with antisocial behaviour with severe aggression, on the contrary, increased SWS has been reported, reflecting either specific brain pathology or a delay in the normal development of human sleep patterns. In our preliminary study among medication-free, detoxified female homicidal offenders with antisocial personality disorder, the same profound abnormality in sleep architecture was found. From the perspective of sleep research, the biological correlates of severe impulsive aggression seem to share similar features in both sexes.

Consciousness in waking and dreaming: the roles of neuronal oscillation and neuromodulation in determining similarities and differences.

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Kahn, D; Pace-Schott, E F; Hobson, J A

1997-05-01

State-dependent aspects of consciousness are explored with particular attention to waking and dreaming. First, those phenomenological differences between waking and dreaming that have been established through subjective reports are reviewed. These differences are robustly expressed in most aspects of consciousness including perception, attention, memory, emotion, orientation, and thought. Next, the roles of high frequency neuronal oscillation and neuromodulation are explored in waking and rapid eye movement sleep, the stage of sleep with which the most intense dreaming is associated. The high frequency neuronal oscillations serve similar functions in the wake and rapid eye movement states sleep but neuromodulation is very different in the two states. The collective high frequency oscillatory activity gives coherence to spatially separate neurons but, because of the different neuromodulation, the binding of sensory input in the wake state is very different from the binding of internally perceived input during rapid eye movement sleep. An explanatory model is presented which states that neuromodulation, as well as input source and brain activation level differentiate states of the brain, while the self-organized collective neuronal oscillations unify consciousness via long range correlations.

Sleep and wakefulness in somnambulism: a spectral analysis study.

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Guilleminault, C; Poyares, D; Aftab, F A; Palombini, L; Abat, F

2001-08-01

The sleep structure and the dynamics of EEG slow-wave activity (SWA) were investigated in 12 young adults and age- and gender-matched controls. Polysomnography was performed in subjects with well-documented chronic sleepwalking and in matched controls. Blinded visual scoring was performed using the international criteria from the Rechtschaffen and Kales atlas [A manual of standardized technology, techniques and scoring systems for sleep stages of human subjects. Los Angeles: UCLA Brain Information Service, Brain Research Institute, 1968.] and by determining the presence of microarousals as defined in the American Sleep Disorders Association (ASDA) atlas [Sleep 15 (1992) 173.]. An evaluation of SWA overnight was performed on total nocturnal sleep to determine if a difference existed between groups of subjects, since sleepwalking usually originates with slow-wave sleep. Investigation of the delta power in successive nonoverlapping 4-second windows in the 32 seconds just prior to EMG activity associated with a confusional arousal was also conducted. One central EEG lead was used for all analyses. Somnambulistic individuals experienced more disturbed sleep than controls during the first NREM-REM sleep cycle. They had a higher number of ASDA arousals and presented lower peak of SWA during the first cycle that led to a lower SWA decline overnight. When the investigation focused on the short segment immediately preceding a confusional arousal, they presented an important increase in the relative power of low delta (0.75-2 Hz) just prior to the confusional arousal. Sleepwalkers undergo disturbed nocturnal sleep at the beginning of the night. The increased power of low delta just prior to the confusional arousal experienced may not be related to Stages 3-4 NREM sleep. We hypothesize that it may be translated as a cortical reaction to brain activation.

Coffee, caffeine, and sleep: A systematic review of epidemiological studies and randomized controlled trials.

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Clark, Ian; Landolt, Hans Peter

2017-02-01

Caffeine is the most widely consumed psychoactive substance in the world. It is readily available in coffee and other foods and beverages, and is used to mitigate sleepiness, enhance performance, and treat apnea in premature infants. This review systematically explores evidence from epidemiological studies and randomized controlled trials as to whether coffee and caffeine have deleterious effects on sleep. Caffeine typically prolonged sleep latency, reduced total sleep time and sleep efficiency, and worsened perceived sleep quality. Slow-wave sleep and electroencephalographic (EEG) slow-wave activity were typically reduced, whereas stage-1, wakefulness, and arousals were increased. Dose- and timing-response relationships were established. The sleep of older adults may be more sensitive to caffeine compared to younger adults. Pronounced individual differences are also present in young people, and genetic studies isolated functional polymorphisms of genes implicated in adenosine neurotransmission and metabolism contributing to individual sensitivity to sleep disruption by caffeine. Most studies were conducted in male adults of Western countries, which limits the generalizability of the findings. Given the importance of good sleep for general health and functioning, longitudinal investigations aimed at establishing possible causal relationships among coffee- and caffeine-induced changes in sleep quality and health development are warranted. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Repeated Sleep Restriction in Adolescent Rats Altered Sleep Patterns and Impaired Spatial Learning/Memory Ability

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Yang, Su-Rong; Sun, Hui; Huang, Zhi-Li; Yao, Ming-Hui; Qu, Wei-Min

2012-01-01

Study Objectives: To investigate possible differences in the effect of repeated sleep restriction (RSR) during adolescence and adulthood on sleep homeostasis and spatial learning and memory ability. Design: The authors examined electroencephalograms of rats as they were subjected to 4-h daily sleep deprivation that continued for 7 consecutive days and assessed the spatial learning and memory by Morris water maze test (WMT). Participants: Adolescent and adult rats. Measurements and Results: Adolescent rats exhibited a similar amount of rapid eye movement (REM) and nonrapid eye movement (NREM) sleep with higher slow wave activity (SWA, 0.5-4 Hz) and fewer episodes and conversions with prolonged durations, indicating they have better sleep quality than adult rats. After RSR, adult rats showed strong rebound of REM sleep by 31% on sleep deprivation day 1; this value was 37% on sleep deprivation day 7 in adolescents compared with 20-h baseline level. On sleep deprivation day 7, SWA in adult and adolescent rats increased by 47% and 33%, and such elevation lasted for 5 h and 7 h, respectively. Furthermore, the authors investigated the effects of 4-h daily sleep deprivation immediately after the water maze training sessions on spatial cognitive performance. Adolescent rats sleep-restricted for 7 days traveled a longer distance to find the hidden platform during the acquisition training and had fewer numbers of platform crossings in the probe trial than those in the control group, something that did not occur in the sleep-deprived adult rats. Conclusions: Repeated sleep restriction (RSR) altered sleep profiles and mildly impaired spatial learning and memory capability in adolescent rats. Citation: Yang SR; Sun H; Huang ZL; Yao MH; Qu WM. Repeated sleep restriction in adolescent rats altered sleep patterns and impaired spatial learning/memory ability. SLEEP 2012;35(6):849-859. PMID:22654204

The effects of total sleep deprivation on Bayesian updating

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David L. Dickinson

2008-02-01

Full Text Available Subjects performed a decision task (Grether, 1980 in both a well-rested and experimentally sleep-deprived state. We found two main results: 1 final choice accuracy was unaffected by sleep deprivation, and yet 2 the estimated decision model differed significantly following sleep-deprivation. Following sleep deprivation, subjects placed significantly less weight on new information in forming their beliefs. Because the altered decision process still maintains decision accuracy, it may suggest that increased accident and error rates attributed to reduced sleep in modern society stem from reduced auxiliary function performance (e.g., slowed reaction time, reduced motor skills or other components of decision making, rather than the inability to integrate multiple pieces of information.

Emotional bias of sleep-dependent processing shifts from negative to positive with aging.

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Jones, Bethany J; Schultz, Kurt S; Adams, Sydney; Baran, Bengi; Spencer, Rebecca M C

2016-09-01

Age-related memory decline has been proposed to result partially from impairments in memory consolidation over sleep. However, such decline may reflect a shift toward selective processing of positive information with age rather than impaired sleep-related mechanisms. In the present study, young and older adults viewed negative and neutral pictures or positive and neutral pictures and underwent a recognition test after sleep or wake. Subjective emotional reactivity and affect were also measured. Compared with waking, sleep preserved valence ratings and memory for positive but not negative pictures in older adults and negative but not positive pictures in young adults. In older adults, memory for positive pictures was associated with slow wave sleep. Furthermore, slow wave sleep predicted positive affect in older adults but was inversely related to positive affect in young adults. These relationships were strongest for older adults with high memory for positive pictures and young adults with high memory for negative pictures. Collectively, these results indicate preserved but selective sleep-dependent memory processing with healthy aging that may be biased to enhance emotional well-being. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sex-related differences in sleep slow wave activity in major depressive disorder: a high-density EEG investigation.

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Plante, David T; Landsness, Eric C; Peterson, Michael J; Goldstein, Michael R; Riedner, Brady A; Wanger, Timothy; Guokas, Jeffrey J; Tononi, Giulio; Benca, Ruth M

2012-09-18

Sleep disturbance plays an important role in major depressive disorder (MDD). Prior investigations have demonstrated that slow wave activity (SWA) during sleep is altered in MDD; however, results have not been consistent across studies, which may be due in part to sex-related differences in SWA and/or limited spatial resolution of spectral analyses. This study sought to characterize SWA in MDD utilizing high-density electroencephalography (hdEEG) to examine the topography of SWA across the cortex in MDD, as well as sex-related variation in SWA topography in the disorder. All-night recordings with 256 channel hdEEG were collected in 30 unipolar MDD subjects (19 women) and 30 age and sex-matched control subjects. Spectral analyses of SWA were performed to determine group differences. SWA was compared between MDD and controls, including analyses stratified by sex, using statistical non-parametric mapping to correct for multiple comparisons of topographic data. As a group, MDD subjects demonstrated significant increases in all-night SWA primarily in bilateral prefrontal channels. When stratified by sex, MDD women demonstrated global increases in SWA relative to age-matched controls that were most consistent in bilateral prefrontal regions; however, MDD men showed no significant differences relative to age-matched controls. Further analyses demonstrated increased SWA in MDD women was most prominent in the first portion of the night. Women, but not men with MDD demonstrate significant increases in SWA in multiple cortical areas relative to control subjects. Further research is warranted to investigate the role of SWA in MDD, and to clarify how increased SWA in women with MDD is related to the pathophysiology of the disorder.

Oscillatory brain activity in spontaneous and induced sleep stages in flies.

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Yap, Melvyn H W; Grabowska, Martyna J; Rohrscheib, Chelsie; Jeans, Rhiannon; Troup, Michael; Paulk, Angelique C; van Alphen, Bart; Shaw, Paul J; van Swinderen, Bruno

2017-11-28

Sleep is a dynamic process comprising multiple stages, each associated with distinct electrophysiological properties and potentially serving different functions. While these phenomena are well described in vertebrates, it is unclear if invertebrates have distinct sleep stages. We perform local field potential (LFP) recordings on flies spontaneously sleeping, and compare their brain activity to flies induced to sleep using either genetic activation of sleep-promoting circuitry or the GABA A agonist Gaboxadol. We find a transitional sleep stage associated with a 7-10 Hz oscillation in the central brain during spontaneous sleep. Oscillatory activity is also evident when we acutely activate sleep-promoting neurons in the dorsal fan-shaped body (dFB) of Drosophila. In contrast, sleep following Gaboxadol exposure is characterized by low-amplitude LFPs, during which dFB-induced effects are suppressed. Sleep in flies thus appears to involve at least two distinct stages: increased oscillatory activity, particularly during sleep induction, followed by desynchronized or decreased brain activity.

Conventional and anomalous quantum Rabi oscillations in graphene

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khan, Enamullah; Kumar, Vipin; Kumar, Upendra; Setlur, Girish S.

2014-01-01

We study the non linear response of graphene in presence of quantum field in two different regimes. Far from resonance, using our new technique asymptotic rotating wave approximation (ARWA), we obtained that the matter field interaction leads to the slow oscillations like conventional Rabi oscillations observed in conventional semiconductors using well known rotating wave approximation (RWA). The Rabi frequency obtained in both the regimes

The effect of experimental sleep fragmentation on error monitoring.

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Ko, Cheng-Hung; Fang, Ya-Wen; Tsai, Ling-Ling; Hsieh, Shulan

2015-01-01

Experimental sleep fragmentation (SF) is characterized by frequent brief arousals without reduced total sleep time and causes daytime sleepiness and impaired neurocognitive processes. This study explored the impact of SF on error monitoring. Thirteen adults underwent auditory stimuli-induced high-level (H) and low-level (L) SF nights. Flanker task performance and electroencephalogram data were collected in the morning following SF nights. Compared to LSF, HSF induced more arousals and stage N1 sleep, decreased slow wave sleep and rapid-eye-movement sleep (REMS), decreased subjective sleep quality, increased daytime sleepiness, and decreased amplitudes of P300 and error-related positivity (Pe). SF effects on N1 sleep were negatively correlated with SF effects on the Pe amplitude. Furthermore, as REMS was reduced by SF, post-error accuracy compensations were greatly reduced. In conclusion, attentional processes and error monitoring were impaired following one night of frequent sleep disruptions, even when total sleep time was not reduced. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The important role of sleep in metabolism.

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Copinschi, Georges; Leproult, Rachel; Spiegel, Karine

2014-01-01

Both reduction in total sleep duration with slow-wave sleep (SWS) largely preserved and alterations of sleep quality (especially marked reduction of SWS) with preservation of total sleep duration are associated with insulin resistance without compensatory increase in insulin secretion, resulting in impaired glucose tolerance and increased risk of type 2 diabetes. When performed under rigorously controlled conditions of energy intake and physical activity, sleep restriction is also associated with a decrease in circulating levels of leptin (an anorexigenic hormone) and an increase in circulating levels of ghrelin (an orexigenic hormone), hunger and appetite. Furthermore, sleep restriction is also associated with a stimulation of brain regions sensitive to food stimuli, indicating that sleep loss may lead to obesity through the selection of high-calorie food. There is also evidence that sleep restriction could provide a permissive environment for the activation of genes that promote obesity. Indeed, the heritability of body mass index is increased in short sleepers. Thus, chronic sleep curtailment, which is on the rise in modern society, including in children, is likely to contribute to the current epidemics of type 2 diabetes and obesity. © 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Effects of cocaine, methamphetamine and modafinil challenge on sleep rebound after paradoxical sleep deprivation in rats

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R.C.S Martins

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Sleep loss is both common and critically relevant to our society and might lead to the abuse of psychostimulants such as amphetamines, cocaine and modafinil. Since psychoactive substance abuse often occurs within a scenario of sleep deficit, the purpose of this investigation was to compare the sleep patterns of rats challenged with cocaine (7 mg/kg, ip, methamphetamine (7 mg/kg, ip, or modafinil (100 mg/kg, ip subsequent to paradoxical sleep deprivation (PSD for 96 h. Our results show that, immediately after 96 h of PSD, rats (10 per group that were injected with a psychostimulant presented lower percentages of paradoxical sleep compared to those injected with saline (P < 0.01. Regarding slow wave sleep (SWS, rats injected with psychostimulants after PSD presented a late rebound (on the second night subsequent to the injection in the percentage of this phase of sleep when compared to PSD rats injected with saline (P < 0.05. In addition, the current study has produced evidence of the characteristic effect of each drug on sleep architecture. Home cage control rats injected with modafinil and methamphetamine showed a reduction in SWS compared with the saline group. Methamphetamine affected sleep patterns most, since it significantly reduced paradoxical sleep, SWS and sleep efficiency before and after PSD compared to control (P < 0.05. Cocaine was the psychostimulant causing the least changes in sleep pattern in relation to those observed after saline injection. Therefore, our results suggest that abuse of these psychostimulants in a PSD paradigm aggravates their impact on sleep patterns.

Optimization of relativistic backward wave oscillator with non-uniform slow wave structure and a resonant reflector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Zaigao; Wang, Jianguo; Wang, Yue

2015-01-01

This letter optimizes synchronously 18 parameters of a relativistic backward wave oscillator with non-uniform slow wave structure (SWS) and a resonant reflector by using the parallel genetic algorithms and particle-in-cell simulation. The optimization results show that the generation efficiency of microwave from the electron beam has increased 32% compared to that of the original device. After optimization, the electromagnetic mode propagating in the resonant changes from the original TM 020 mode of reflector to higher-order TM 021 mode, which has a high reflection coefficient in a broader frequency range than that of the former. The modulation of current inside the optimized device is much deeper than that in the original one. The product of the electric field and current is defined. Observing this product, it is found that the interaction of the electron beam with the electromagnetic wave in the optimized device is much stronger than that in the original device, and at the rear part of SWS of the optimized device, the electron beam dominantly gives out the energy to the electromagnetic wave, leading to the higher generation efficiency of microwave than that of the original device

Sleep and Epilepsy: Strange Bedfellows No More.

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St Louis, Erik K

2011-09-01

Ancient philosophers and theologians believed that altered consciousness freed the mind to prophesy the future, equating sleep with seizures. Only recently has the bidirectional influences of epilepsy and sleep upon one another received more substantive analysis. This article reviews the complex and increasingly recognized interrelationships between sleep and epilepsy. NREM sleep differentially activates interictal epileptiform discharges during slow wave (N3) sleep, while ictal seizure events occur more frequently during light NREM stages N1 and N2. The most commonly encountered types of sleep-related epilepsies (those with preferential occurrence during sleep or following arousal) include frontal and temporal lobe partial epilepsies in adults, and benign epilepsy of childhood with centrotemporal spikes (benign rolandic epilepsy) and juvenile myoclonic epilepsy in children and adolescents. Comorbid sleep disorders are frequent in patients with epilepsy, particularly obstructive sleep apnea in refractory epilepsy patients which may aggravate seizure burden, while treatment with nasal continuous positive airway pressure often improves seizure frequency. Distinguishing nocturnal events such as NREM parasomnias (confusional arousals, sleep walking, and night terrors), REM parasomnias including REM sleep behavior disorder, and nocturnal seizures if frequently difficult and benefits from careful history taking and video-EEG-polysomnography in selected cases. Differentiating nocturnal seizures from primary sleep disorders is essential for determining appropriate therapy, and recognizing co-existent sleep disorders in patients with epilepsy may improve their seizure burden and quality of life.

Mathematical models for sleep-wake dynamics: comparison of the two-process model and a mutual inhibition neuronal model.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anne C Skeldon

Full Text Available Sleep is essential for the maintenance of the brain and the body, yet many features of sleep are poorly understood and mathematical models are an important tool for probing proposed biological mechanisms. The most well-known mathematical model of sleep regulation, the two-process model, models the sleep-wake cycle by two oscillators: a circadian oscillator and a homeostatic oscillator. An alternative, more recent, model considers the mutual inhibition of sleep promoting neurons and the ascending arousal system regulated by homeostatic and circadian processes. Here we show there are fundamental similarities between these two models. The implications are illustrated with two important sleep-wake phenomena. Firstly, we show that in the two-process model, transitions between different numbers of daily sleep episodes can be classified as grazing bifurcations. This provides the theoretical underpinning for numerical results showing that the sleep patterns of many mammals can be explained by the mutual inhibition model. Secondly, we show that when sleep deprivation disrupts the sleep-wake cycle, ostensibly different measures of sleepiness in the two models are closely related. The demonstration of the mathematical similarities of the two models is valuable because not only does it allow some features of the two-process model to be interpreted physiologically but it also means that knowledge gained from study of the two-process model can be used to inform understanding of the behaviour of the mutual inhibition model. This is important because the mutual inhibition model and its extensions are increasingly being used as a tool to understand a diverse range of sleep-wake phenomena such as the design of optimal shift-patterns, yet the values it uses for parameters associated with the circadian and homeostatic processes are very different from those that have been experimentally measured in the context of the two-process model.

Post-operative sleep disturbance: causes, factors and effects on outcome

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rosenberg, J; Rosenberg-Adamsen, S; Kehlet, H

1995-01-01

Post-operative sleep disturbance, with suppression of rapid eye movement sleep and slow wave sleep followed by a subsequent rebound, seems to be related to the magnitude of trauma and thereby to the surgical stress response. In this context, cortisol, autonomic stimulation, and certain cytokines...... may lead to abnormal sleep. Furthermore, the environment, pain and the administration of analgesics seem to be important factors in the precipitation of sleep abnormalities. Post-operative sleep disturbance may contribute to the development of episodic hypoxaemia, haemodynamic instability and altered...... mental status, all of which have an influence on post-operative morbidity and mortality. Prevention or reduction of the post-operative sleep disturbance may be achieved by minimizing surgical trauma, changing the conventional nursing procedures, avoiding opioids and treating pain with non...

Standing Slow MHD Waves in Radiatively Cooling Coronal Loops ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

The standing slow magneto-acoustic oscillations in cooling coronal loops ... turbation and, eventually, reduces the MHD equations to a 1D system modelling ..... where the function Q is expanded in power series with respect to ǫ, i.e.,. Q = Q0 + ...

High Resolution Topography of Age-Related Changes in Non-Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Electroencephalography.

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Kate E Sprecher

Full Text Available Sleeping brain activity reflects brain anatomy and physiology. The aim of this study was to use high density (256 channel electroencephalography (EEG during sleep to characterize topographic changes in sleep EEG power across normal aging, with high spatial resolution. Sleep was evaluated in 92 healthy adults aged 18-65 years old using full polysomnography and high density EEG. After artifact removal, spectral power density was calculated for standard frequency bands for all channels, averaged across the NREM periods of the first 3 sleep cycles. To quantify topographic changes with age, maps were generated of the Pearson's coefficient of the correlation between power and age at each electrode. Significant correlations were determined by statistical non-parametric mapping. Absolute slow wave power declined significantly with increasing age across the entire scalp, whereas declines in theta and sigma power were significant only in frontal regions. Power in fast spindle frequencies declined significantly with increasing age frontally, whereas absolute power of slow spindle frequencies showed no significant change with age. When EEG power was normalized across the scalp, a left centro-parietal region showed significantly less age-related decline in power than the rest of the scalp. This partial preservation was particularly significant in the slow wave and sigma bands. The effect of age on sleep EEG varies substantially by region and frequency band. This non-uniformity should inform the design of future investigations of aging and sleep. This study provides normative data on the effect of age on sleep EEG topography, and provides a basis from which to explore the mechanisms of normal aging as well as neurodegenerative disorders for which age is a risk factor.

Sleeping dendrites: fiber-optic measurements of dendritic calcium activity in freely moving and sleeping animals

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Julie Seibt

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Dendrites are the post-synaptic sites of most excitatory and inhibitory synapses in the brain, making them the main location of cortical information processing and synaptic plasticity. Although current hypotheses suggest a central role for sleep in proper cognitive function and brain plasticity, virtually nothing is known about changes in dendritic activity across the sleep-wake cycle and how waking experience modifies this activity. To start addressing these questions, we developed a method that allows long-term recordings of EEGs/EMG combined with in vivo cortical calcium (Ca2+ activity in freely moving and sleeping rats. We measured Ca2+ activity from populations of dendrites of layer (L 5 pyramidal neurons (n = 13 rats that we compared with Ca2+ activity from populations of neurons in L2/3 (n = 11 rats. L5 and L2/3 neurons were labelled using bolus injection of OGB1-AM or GCaMP6 (1. Ca2+ signals were detected using a fiber-optic system (cannula diameter = 400µm, transmitting the changes in fluorescence to a photodiode. Ca2+ fluctuations could then be correlated with ongoing changes in brain oscillatory activity during 5 major brain states: active wake [AW], quiet wake [QW], NREM, REM and NREM-REM transition (or intermediate state, [IS]. Our Ca2+ recordings show large transients in L5 dendrites and L2/3 neurons that oscillate predominantly at frequencies In summary, we show that this technique is successful in monitoring fluctuations in ongoing dendritic Ca2+ activity during natural brain states and allows, in principle, to combine behavioral measurement with imaging from various brain regions (e.g. deep structures in freely behaving animals. Using this method, we show that Ca2+ transients from populations of L2/3 neurons and L5 dendrites are deferentially regulated across the sleep/wake cycle, with dendritic activity being the highest during the IS sleep. Our correlation analysis suggests that specific sleep EEG activity during NREM and IS

Ca2+ controls slow NAD(P)H oscillations in glucose-stimulated mouse pancreatic islets

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Luciani, Dan Seriano; Misler, S.; Polonsky, K.S.

2006-01-01

Exposure of pancreatic islets of Langerhans to physiological concentrations of glucose leads to secretion of insulin in an oscillatory pattern. The oscillations in insulin secretion are associated with oscillations in cytosolic Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+](c)). Evidence suggests that the oscillatio...

The circadian regulation of sleep: impact of a functional ADA-polymorphism and its association to working memory improvements.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carolin F Reichert

Full Text Available Sleep is regulated in a time-of-day dependent manner and profits working memory. However, the impact of the circadian timing system as well as contributions of specific sleep properties to this beneficial effect remains largely unexplored. Moreover, it is unclear to which extent inter-individual differences in sleep-wake regulation depend on circadian phase and modulate the association between sleep and working memory. Here, sleep electroencephalography (EEG was recorded during a 40-h multiple nap protocol, and working memory performance was assessed by the n-back task 10 times before and after each scheduled nap sleep episode. Twenty-four participants were genotyped regarding a functional polymorphism in adenosine deaminase (rs73598374, 12 G/A-, 12 G/G-allele carriers, previously associated with differences in sleep-wake regulation. Our results indicate that genotype-driven differences in sleep depend on circadian phase: heterozygous participants were awake longer and slept less at the end of the biological day, while they exhibited longer non rapid eye movement (NREM sleep and slow wave sleep concomitant with reduced power between 8-16 Hz at the end of the biological night. Slow wave sleep and NREM sleep delta EEG activity covaried positively with overall working memory performance, independent of circadian phase and genotype. Moreover, REM sleep duration benefitted working memory particularly when occurring in the early morning hours and specifically in heterozygous individuals. Even though based on a small sample size and thus requiring replication, our results suggest genotype-dependent differences in circadian sleep regulation. They further indicate that REM sleep, being under strong circadian control, boosts working memory performance according to genotype in a time-of-day dependent manner. Finally, our data provide first evidence that slow wave sleep and NREM sleep delta activity, majorly regulated by sleep homeostatic mechanisms, is

Effects of aging on sleep structure throughout adulthood: a population-based study.

Science.gov (United States)

Moraes, Walter; Piovezan, Ronaldo; Poyares, Dalva; Bittencourt, Lia Rita; Santos-Silva, Rogerio; Tufik, Sergio

2014-04-01

Although many studies have shown the evolution of sleep parameters across the lifespan, not many have included a representative sample of the general population. The objective of this study was to describe age-related changes in sleep structure, sleep respiratory parameters and periodic limb movements of the adult population of São Paulo. We selected a representative sample of the city of São Paulo, Brazil that included both genders and an age range of 20-80 years. Pregnant and lactating women, people with physical or mental impairments that prevent self-care and people who work every night were not included. This sample included 1024 individuals who were submitted to polysomnography and structured interviews. We subdivided our sample into five-year age groups. One-way analysis of variance was used to compare age groups. Pearson product-moment was used to evaluate correlation between age and sleep parameters. Total sleep time, sleep efficiency, percentage of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and slow wave sleep showed a significant age-related decrease (Pincrease (Pincreased and oxygen saturation decreased with age. The reduction in the percentage of REM sleep significantly correlated with age in women, whereas the reduction in the percentage of slow wave sleep correlated with age in men. The periodic limb movement (PLM) index increased with age in men and women. Sleep structure and duration underwent significant alterations throughout the aging process in the general population. There was an important correlation between age, sleep respiratory parameters and PLM index. In addition, men and women showed similar trends but with different effect sizes. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Network-dependent modulation of brain activity during sleep.

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Watanabe, Takamitsu; Kan, Shigeyuki; Koike, Takahiko; Misaki, Masaya; Konishi, Seiki; Miyauchi, Satoru; Miyahsita, Yasushi; Masuda, Naoki

2014-09-01

Brain activity dynamically changes even during sleep. A line of neuroimaging studies has reported changes in functional connectivity and regional activity across different sleep stages such as slow-wave sleep (SWS) and rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep. However, it remains unclear whether and how the large-scale network activity of human brains changes within a given sleep stage. Here, we investigated modulation of network activity within sleep stages by applying the pairwise maximum entropy model to brain activity obtained by functional magnetic resonance imaging from sleeping healthy subjects. We found that the brain activity of individual brain regions and functional interactions between pairs of regions significantly increased in the default-mode network during SWS and decreased during REM sleep. In contrast, the network activity of the fronto-parietal and sensory-motor networks showed the opposite pattern. Furthermore, in the three networks, the amount of the activity changes throughout REM sleep was negatively correlated with that throughout SWS. The present findings suggest that the brain activity is dynamically modulated even in a sleep stage and that the pattern of modulation depends on the type of the large-scale brain networks. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sex differences in objective measures of sleep in post-traumatic stress disorder and healthy control subjects.

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Richards, Anne; Metzler, Thomas J; Ruoff, Leslie M; Inslicht, Sabra S; Rao, Madhu; Talbot, Lisa S; Neylan, Thomas C

2013-12-01

A growing literature shows prominent sex effects for risk for post-traumatic stress disorder and associated medical comorbid burden. Previous research indicates that post-traumatic stress disorder is associated with reduced slow wave sleep, which may have implications for overall health, and abnormalities in rapid eye movement sleep, which have been implicated in specific post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, but most research has been conducted in male subjects. We therefore sought to compare objective measures of sleep in male and female post-traumatic stress disorder subjects with age- and sex-matched control subjects. We used a cross-sectional, 2 × 2 design (post-traumatic stress disorder/control × female/male) involving83 medically healthy, non-medicated adults aged 19-39 years in the inpatient sleep laboratory. Visual electroencephalographic analysis demonstrated that post-traumatic stress disorder was associated with lower slow wave sleep duration (F(3,82)  = 7.63, P = 0.007) and slow wave sleep percentage (F(3,82)  = 6.11, P = 0.016). There was also a group × sex interaction effect for rapid eye movement sleep duration (F(3,82)  = 4.08, P = 0.047) and rapid eye movement sleep percentage (F(3,82)  = 4.30, P = 0.041), explained by greater rapid eye movement sleep in post-traumatic stress disorder females compared to control females, a difference not seen in male subjects. Quantitative electroencephalography analysis demonstrated that post-traumatic stress disorder was associated with lower energy in the delta spectrum (F(3,82)  = 6.79, P = 0.011) in non-rapid eye movement sleep. Slow wave sleep and delta findings were more pronounced in males. Removal of post-traumatic stress disorder subjects with comorbid major depressive disorder, who had greater post-traumatic stress disorder severity, strengthened delta effects but reduced rapid eye movement effects to non-significance. These findings support previous evidence that post

About sleep's role in memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Rasch, Björn; Born, Jan

2013-04-01

Over more than a century of research has established the fact that sleep benefits the retention of memory. In this review we aim to comprehensively cover the field of "sleep and memory" research by providing a historical perspective on concepts and a discussion of more recent key findings. Whereas initial theories posed a passive role for sleep enhancing memories by protecting them from interfering stimuli, current theories highlight an active role for sleep in which memories undergo a process of system consolidation during sleep. Whereas older research concentrated on the role of rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep, recent work has revealed the importance of slow-wave sleep (SWS) for memory consolidation and also enlightened some of the underlying electrophysiological, neurochemical, and genetic mechanisms, as well as developmental aspects in these processes. Specifically, newer findings characterize sleep as a brain state optimizing memory consolidation, in opposition to the waking brain being optimized for encoding of memories. Consolidation originates from reactivation of recently encoded neuronal memory representations, which occur during SWS and transform respective representations for integration into long-term memory. Ensuing REM sleep may stabilize transformed memories. While elaborated with respect to hippocampus-dependent memories, the concept of an active redistribution of memory representations from networks serving as temporary store into long-term stores might hold also for non-hippocampus-dependent memory, and even for nonneuronal, i.e., immunological memories, giving rise to the idea that the offline consolidation of memory during sleep represents a principle of long-term memory formation established in quite different physiological systems.

About Sleep's Role in Memory

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Over more than a century of research has established the fact that sleep benefits the retention of memory. In this review we aim to comprehensively cover the field of “sleep and memory” research by providing a historical perspective on concepts and a discussion of more recent key findings. Whereas initial theories posed a passive role for sleep enhancing memories by protecting them from interfering stimuli, current theories highlight an active role for sleep in which memories undergo a process of system consolidation during sleep. Whereas older research concentrated on the role of rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep, recent work has revealed the importance of slow-wave sleep (SWS) for memory consolidation and also enlightened some of the underlying electrophysiological, neurochemical, and genetic mechanisms, as well as developmental aspects in these processes. Specifically, newer findings characterize sleep as a brain state optimizing memory consolidation, in opposition to the waking brain being optimized for encoding of memories. Consolidation originates from reactivation of recently encoded neuronal memory representations, which occur during SWS and transform respective representations for integration into long-term memory. Ensuing REM sleep may stabilize transformed memories. While elaborated with respect to hippocampus-dependent memories, the concept of an active redistribution of memory representations from networks serving as temporary store into long-term stores might hold also for non-hippocampus-dependent memory, and even for nonneuronal, i.e., immunological memories, giving rise to the idea that the offline consolidation of memory during sleep represents a principle of long-term memory formation established in quite different physiological systems. PMID:23589831

Thermoregulatory model of sleep control: losing the heat memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Nakao, M; McGinty, D; Szymusiak, R; Yamamoto, M

1999-12-01

Thermoregulatory mechanisms were hypothesized to provide primary control of non-rapid-eye-movement sleep (NREM). On the basis of this hypothesis, we incorporated the thermoregulatory feedback loops mediated by the "heat memory," heat load, and loss processes associated with sleep-wake cycles, which were modulated by two circadian oscillators. In addition, hypnogenic warm-sensitive neurons (HWSNs) were assumed to integrate thermoregulation and NREM control. The heat memory described above could be mediated by some sleep-promoting substances. In this paper, considering the possible carrier of the heat memory, its losing process is newly included in the model. The newly developed model can generate the appropriate features of human sleep-wake patterns. One of the special features of the model is to generate the bimodal distribution of the sleepiness. This bimodality becomes distinct, as the losing rate of the heat memory decreases or the amplitude of the Y oscillator increases. The theoretical analysis shows the losing rate of the heat memory control's rapidity of model response to a thermal perturbation, which is confirmed by simulating the responses with various losing rates to transient heat loads ("heat load pulse"). The sleepiness exhibits large responses to the heat load pulses applied in the early and late phases of wake period, while the response is significantly reduced to the pulse applied in the supposed wake-maintenance zone. This bimodality of the response appears to reflect the sensitivity of the HWSNs. In addition, the early pulse raises the immediate sleepiness rather than the nocturnal sleepiness, while the heat load pulse applied in the later phase of waking period significantly raises the sleepiness during a nocturnal sleep. In simulations of sleep deprivation, the discontinuous relationship between recovery sleep length and deprivation time is reproduced, where the critical sleep deprivation time at which the recovery sleep length jumps is extended

Optical signal processing using slow and fast light technologies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Capmany, J.; Sales, Salvador; Xue, Weiqi

2009-01-01

We review the theory of slow and fat light effects due to coherent population oscillations in semiconductor waveguides, which can be potentially applied in microwave photonic systems as a RF phase shifters. In order to satisfy the application requirement of 360 degrees RF phase shift at different...

Characterizing sleeping habits and disturbances among Saudi adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Tannir, Mohamad; Kobrosly, Samer Y; Al-Badr, Ahmad H; Salloum, Nourhan A; Altannir, Youssef M

2016-12-01

To characterize sleeping habits, assess sleep disturbance prevalence, and identify associated factors among Saudi adults.  Methods: A total of 1720 adults were approached for this observational cross-sectional study between October 2014 and March 2015. The study took place in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. We used a questionnaire to describe sleeping characteristics in relation to existing chronic diseases, smoking status, obesity, daily performance and sociodemographic variables. Results: The response rate was 79.6% (1369 participants), 61.6% have or may have sleeping disturbances of which 18.6% claimed either slowed or stopped breathing during sleep. Women reported a higher prevalence of sleep disturbances (65.2%). Feeling tired was significantly associated with sleep disturbance (49% versus 19.7%) (p greater than 0.001). Approximately 78.4% of those with sleep disturbance significantly believed that their ability to perform daily tasks is affected (p=0.005). Moreover, smoking and obesity were significantly associated with sleep disturbances (p less than 0.01). Participants with asthma, hypertension, chronic heart disease, and diabetes mellitus reported significantly more sleeping disturbance (p=0.016 to p=0.001). Conclusions: Sleep disturbances are associated with obesity, smoking, chronic health conditions, and lower performance among  Saudi adults.

Low Activity Microstates During Sleep.

Science.gov (United States)

Miyawaki, Hiroyuki; Billeh, Yazan N; Diba, Kamran

2017-06-01

To better understand the distinct activity patterns of the brain during sleep, we observed and investigated periods of diminished oscillatory and population spiking activity lasting for seconds during non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) sleep, which we call "LOW" activity sleep. We analyzed spiking and local field potential (LFP) activity of hippocampal CA1 region alongside neocortical electroencephalogram (EEG) and electromyogram (EMG) in 19 sessions from four male Long-Evans rats (260-360 g) during natural wake/sleep across the 24-hr cycle as well as data from other brain regions obtained from http://crcns.org.1,2. LOW states lasted longer than OFF/DOWN states and were distinguished by a subset of "LOW-active" cells. LOW activity sleep was preceded and followed by increased sharp-wave ripple activity. We also observed decreased slow-wave activity and sleep spindles in the hippocampal LFP and neocortical EEG upon LOW onset, with a partial rebound immediately after LOW. LOW states demonstrated activity patterns consistent with sleep but frequently transitioned into microarousals and showed EMG and LFP differences from small-amplitude irregular activity during quiet waking. Their likelihood decreased within individual non-REM epochs yet increased over the course of sleep. By analyzing data from the entorhinal cortex of rats,1 as well as the hippocampus, the medial prefrontal cortex, the postsubiculum, and the anterior thalamus of mice,2 obtained from http://crcns.org, we confirmed that LOW states corresponded to markedly diminished activity simultaneously in all of these regions. We propose that LOW states are an important microstate within non-REM sleep that provide respite from high-activity sleep and may serve a restorative function. © Sleep Research Society 2017. Published by Oxford University Press [on behalf of the Sleep Research Society].

Memory consolidation in human sleep depends on inhibition of glucocorticoid release.

Science.gov (United States)

Plihal, W; Born, J

1999-09-09

Early sleep dominated by slow-wave sleep has been found to be particularly relevant for declarative memory formation via hippocampo-neocortical networks. Concurrently, early nocturnal sleep is characterized by an inhibition of glucocorticoid release from the adrenals. Here, we show in healthy humans that this inhibition serves to support declarative memory consolidation during sleep. Elevating plasma glucocorticoid concentration during early sleep by administration of cortisol impaired consolidation of paired associate words, but not of non-declarative memory of visuomotor skills. Since glucocorticoid concentration was enhanced only during retention sleep, but not during acquisition or retrieval, a specific effect on the consolidation process is indicated. Blocking mineralocorticoid receptors by canrenoate did not affect memory, suggesting inactivation of glucocorticoid receptors to be the essential prerequisite for memory consolidation during early sleep.

Oscillations of the Outer Boundary of the Outer Radiation Belt During Sawtooth Oscillations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jae-Hun Kim

2006-09-01

Full Text Available We report three sawtooth oscillation events observed at geosynchronous orbit where we find quasi-periodic (every 2-3 hours sudden flux increases followed by slow flux decreases at the energy levels of ˜50-400 keV. For these three sawtooth events, we have examined variations of the outer boundary of the outer radiation belt. In order to determine L values of the outer boundary, we have used data of relativistic electron flux observed by the SAMPEX satellite. We find that the outer boundary of the outer radiation belt oscillates periodically being consistent with sawtooth oscillation phases. Specifically, the outer boundary of the outer radiation belt expands (namely, the boundary L value increases following the sawtooth particle flux enhancement of each tooth, and then contracts (namely, the boundary L value decreases while the sawtooth flux decreases gradually until the next flux enhancement. On the other hand, it is repeatedly seen that the asymmetry of the magnetic field intensity between dayside and nightside decreases (increases due to the dipolarization (the stretching on the nightside as the sawtooth flux increases (decreases. This implies that the periodic magnetic field variations during the sawtooth oscillations are likely responsible for the expansion-contraction oscillations of the outer boundary of the outer radiation belt.

Differential effects of non-REM and REM sleep on memory consolidation?

Science.gov (United States)

Ackermann, Sandra; Rasch, Björn

2014-02-01

Sleep benefits memory consolidation. Previous theoretical accounts have proposed a differential role of slow-wave sleep (SWS), rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep, and stage N2 sleep for different types of memories. For example the dual process hypothesis proposes that SWS is beneficial for declarative memories, whereas REM sleep is important for consolidation of non-declarative, procedural and emotional memories. In fact, numerous recent studies do provide further support for the crucial role of SWS (or non-REM sleep) in declarative memory consolidation. However, recent evidence for the benefit of REM sleep for non-declarative memories is rather scarce. In contrast, several recent studies have related consolidation of procedural memories (and some also emotional memories) to SWS (or non-REM sleep)-dependent consolidation processes. We will review this recent evidence, and propose future research questions to advance our understanding of the role of different sleep stages for memory consolidation.

Sleep spindle activity in double cortex syndrome: a case report.

Science.gov (United States)

Sforza, Emilia; Marcoz, Jean-Pierre; Foletti, Giovanni

2010-09-01

Cortical dysgenesis is increasingly recognised as a cause of epilepsy. We report a case with double cortex heterotopia and secondarily generalized seizures with a generalised spike wave pattern. During the course of the disease, the child developed electrical status epilepticus in slow wave sleep. From the first examination, sleep pattern revealed increased frequency and amplitude of spindle activity, more evident in anterior areas. The role of the thalamocortical pathway in increased sleep spindle activity is discussed with emphasis on the possible role of altered thalamocortical pathways in abnormal cortical migration. A strong suspicion of cortical dysgenesis may therefore be based on specific EEG sleep patterns.

Insufficient sleep in adolescents: causes and consequences.

Science.gov (United States)

Owens, Judith A; Weiss, Miriam R

2017-08-01

Insufficient sleep poses an important and complicated set of health risks in the adolescent population. Not only is deficient sleep (defined as both sleep duration inadequate to meet sleep needs and sleep timing misaligned with the body's circadian rhythms) at epidemic levels in this population, but the contributing factors are both complex and numerous and there are a myriad of negative physical and mental health, safety and performance consequences. Causes of inadequate sleep identified in this population include internal biological processes such as the normal shift (delay) in circadian rhythm that occurs in association with puberty and a developmentally-based slowing of the "sleep drive", and external factors including extracurricular activities, excessive homework load, evening use of electronic media, caffeine intake and early school start times. Consequences range from inattentiveness, reduction in executive functioning and poor academic performance to increased risk of obesity and cardio-metabolic dysfunction, mood disturbances which include increased suicidal ideation, a higher risk of engaging in health risk behaviors such as alcohol and substance use, and increased rates of car crashes, occupational injuries and sports-related injuries. In response to these concerns, a number of promising measures have been proposed to reduce the burden of adolescent sleep loss, including healthy sleep education for students and families, and later school start times to allow adolescents to obtain sufficient and appropriately-timed sleep.

Auditory feedback blocks memory benefits of cueing during sleep.

Science.gov (United States)

Schreiner, Thomas; Lehmann, Mick; Rasch, Björn

2015-10-28

It is now widely accepted that re-exposure to memory cues during sleep reactivates memories and can improve later recall. However, the underlying mechanisms are still unknown. As reactivation during wakefulness renders memories sensitive to updating, it remains an intriguing question whether reactivated memories during sleep also become susceptible to incorporating further information after the cue. Here we show that the memory benefits of cueing Dutch vocabulary during sleep are in fact completely blocked when memory cues are directly followed by either correct or conflicting auditory feedback, or a pure tone. In addition, immediate (but not delayed) auditory stimulation abolishes the characteristic increases in oscillatory theta and spindle activity typically associated with successful reactivation during sleep as revealed by high-density electroencephalography. We conclude that plastic processes associated with theta and spindle oscillations occurring during a sensitive period immediately after the cue are necessary for stabilizing reactivated memory traces during sleep.

Pharmacological profiling of zebrafish behavior using chemical and genetic classification of sleep-wake modifiers

OpenAIRE

Nishimura, Yuhei; Okabe, Shiko; Sasagawa, Shota; Murakami, Soichiro; Ashikawa, Yoshifumi; Yuge, Mizuki; Kawaguchi, Koki; Kawase, Reiko; Tanaka, Toshio

2015-01-01

Sleep-wake states are impaired in various neurological disorders. Impairment of sleep-wake states can be an early condition that exacerbates these disorders. Therefore, treating sleep-wake dysfunction may prevent or slow the development of these diseases. Although many gene products are likely to be involved in the sleep-wake disturbance, hypnotics and psychostimulants clinically used are limited in terms of their mode of action and are not without side effects. Therefore, there is a growing ...

Melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH: a new sleep factor?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pablo eTorterolo

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Neurons that utilize the neuropeptide melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH as a neuromodulator are mainly located in the lateral hypothalamus and the incerto-hypothalamic area, and have widespread projections throughout the brain. While the biological functions of this neuropeptide are exerted in humans through two metabotropic receptors, the MCHR1 and MCHR2, only the MCHR1 is present in rodents. Recently, it has been shown that the MCHergic system is involved in the control of sleep. We can summarize the experimental findings as follows:1. The areas related to the control of sleep and wakefulness have an important density of MCHergic fibers and receptors.2. MCHergic neurons are active during sleep, especially during REM sleep.3. Genetically-modified animals without MCH have less REM sleep, notably under conditions of negative energy balance. 4. Systemically administered MCHR1 antagonists reduce sleep. 5. Intraventricular microinjection of MCH increases both slow wave sleep (SWS and REM sleep; however, the increment in REM sleep is more pronounced.6. Microinjection of MCH into the dorsal raphe nucleus increases REM sleep time. REM seep is inhibited by immunoneutralization of MCH within this nucleus.7. Microinjection of MCH in the nucleus pontis oralis of the cat enhances REM sleep time and reduces REM sleep latency.All these data strongly suggest that MCH has a potent role in the promotion of sleep. Although both SWS and REM sleep are facilitated by MCH, REM sleep seems to be more sensitive to MCH modulation.

Time Alignment as a Necessary Step in the Analysis of Sleep Probabilistic Curves

Science.gov (United States)

Rošt'áková, Zuzana; Rosipal, Roman

2018-02-01

Sleep can be characterised as a dynamic process that has a finite set of sleep stages during the night. The standard Rechtschaffen and Kales sleep model produces discrete representation of sleep and does not take into account its dynamic structure. In contrast, the continuous sleep representation provided by the probabilistic sleep model accounts for the dynamics of the sleep process. However, analysis of the sleep probabilistic curves is problematic when time misalignment is present. In this study, we highlight the necessity of curve synchronisation before further analysis. Original and in time aligned sleep probabilistic curves were transformed into a finite dimensional vector space, and their ability to predict subjects' age or daily measures is evaluated. We conclude that curve alignment significantly improves the prediction of the daily measures, especially in the case of the S2-related sleep states or slow wave sleep.

Sleep pattern and locomotor activity are impaired by doxorubicin in non-tumor-bearing rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Lira, Fabio Santos; Esteves, Andrea Maculano; Pimentel, Gustavo Duarte; Rosa, José Cesar; Frank, Miriam Kannebley; Mariano, Melise Oliveira; Budni, Josiane; Quevedo, João; Santos, Ronaldo Vagner Dos; de Mello, Marco Túlio

2016-01-01

We sought explore the effects of doxorubicin on sleep patterns and locomotor activity. To investigate these effects, two groups were formed: a control group and a Doxorubicin (DOXO) group. Sixteen rats were randomly assigned to either the control or DOXO groups. The sleep patterns were examined by polysomnographic recording and locomotor activity was evaluated in an open-field test. In the light period, the total sleep time and slow wave sleep were decreased, while the wake after sleep onset and arousal were increased in the DOXO group compared with the control group (plocomotor activity.

Non-thermal continuous and modulated electromagnetic radiation fields effects on sleep EEG of rats ?

OpenAIRE

Mohammed, Haitham S.; Fahmy, Heba M.; Radwan, Nasr M.; Elsayed, Anwar A.

2012-01-01

In the present study, the alteration in the sleep EEG in rats due to chronic exposure to low-level non-thermal electromagnetic radiation was investigated. Two types of radiation fields were used; 900 MHz unmodulated wave and 900 MHz modulated at 8 and 16 Hz waves. Animals has exposed to radiation fields for 1 month (1 h/day). EEG power spectral analyses of exposed and control animals during slow wave sleep (SWS) and rapid eye movement sleep (REM sleep) revealed that the REM sleep is more susc...

Reduction of nocturnal slow-wave activity affects daytime vigilance lapses and memory encoding but not reaction time or implicit learning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Werf, Y.D.; Altena, E.; Vis, J.C.; Koene, T.; van Someren, E.J.W.

2011-01-01

Total sleep deprivation in healthy subjects has a profound effect on the performance on tasks measuring sustained attention or vigilance. We here report how a selective disruption of deep sleep only, that is, selective slow-wave activity (SWA) reduction, affects the performance of healthy

3-D numerical simulations of coronal loops oscillations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Selwa

2009-10-01

Full Text Available We present numerical results of 3-D MHD model of a dipole active region field containing a loop with a higher density than its surroundings. We study different ways of excitation of vertical kink oscillations by velocity perturbation: as an initial condition, and as an impulsive excitation with a pulse of a given position, duration, and amplitude. These properties are varied in the parametric studies. We find that the amplitude of vertical kink oscillations is significantly amplified in comparison to horizontal kink oscillations for exciters located centrally (symmetrically below the loop, but not if the exciter is located a significant distance to the side of the loop. This explains why the pure vertical kink mode is so rarely observed in comparison to the horizontally polarized one. We discuss the role of curved magnetic field lines and the pulse overlapping at one of the loop's footpoints in 3-D active regions (AR's on the excitation and the damping of slow standing waves. We find that footpoint excitation becomes more efficient in 3-D curved loops than in 2-D curved arcades and that slow waves can be excited within an interval of time that is comparable to the observed one wave-period due to the combined effect of the pulse inside and outside the loop. Additionally, we study the effect of AR topology on the excitation and trapping of loop oscillations. We find that a perturbation acting directly on a single loop excites oscillations, but results in an increased leakage compared to excitation of oscillations in an AR field by an external source.

3-D numerical simulations of coronal loops oscillations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Selwa

2009-10-01

Full Text Available We present numerical results of 3-D MHD model of a dipole active region field containing a loop with a higher density than its surroundings. We study different ways of excitation of vertical kink oscillations by velocity perturbation: as an initial condition, and as an impulsive excitation with a pulse of a given position, duration, and amplitude. These properties are varied in the parametric studies. We find that the amplitude of vertical kink oscillations is significantly amplified in comparison to horizontal kink oscillations for exciters located centrally (symmetrically below the loop, but not if the exciter is located a significant distance to the side of the loop. This explains why the pure vertical kink mode is so rarely observed in comparison to the horizontally polarized one. We discuss the role of curved magnetic field lines and the pulse overlapping at one of the loop's footpoints in 3-D active regions (AR's on the excitation and the damping of slow standing waves. We find that footpoint excitation becomes more efficient in 3-D curved loops than in 2-D curved arcades and that slow waves can be excited within an interval of time that is comparable to the observed one wave-period due to the combined effect of the pulse inside and outside the loop. Additionally, we study the effect of AR topology on the excitation and trapping of loop oscillations. We find that a perturbation acting directly on a single loop excites oscillations, but results in an increased leakage compared to excitation of oscillations in an AR field by an external source.

Sleep-dependent facilitation of episodic memory details.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Helm, Els; Gujar, Ninad; Nishida, Masaki; Walker, Matthew P

2011-01-01

While a role for sleep in declarative memory processing is established, the qualitative nature of this consolidation benefit, and the physiological mechanisms mediating it, remain debated. Here, we investigate the impact of sleep physiology on characteristics of episodic memory using an item- (memory elements) and context- (contextual details associated with those elements) learning paradigm; the latter being especially dependent on the hippocampus. Following back-to-back encoding of two word lists, each associated with a different context, participants were assigned to either a Nap-group, who obtained a 120-min nap, or a No Nap-group. Six hours post-encoding, participants performed a recognition test involving item-memory and context-memory judgments. In contrast to item-memory, which demonstrated no between-group differences, a significant benefit in context-memory developed in the Nap-group, the extent of which correlated both with the amount of stage-2 NREM sleep and frontal fast sleep-spindles. Furthermore, a difference was observed on the basis of word-list order, with the sleep benefit and associated physiological correlations being selective for the second word-list, learned last (most proximal to sleep). These findings suggest that sleep may preferentially benefit contextual (hippocampal-dependent) aspects of memory, supported by sleep-spindle oscillations, and that the temporal order of initial learning differentially determines subsequent offline consolidation.

Sleep-dependent facilitation of episodic memory details.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Els van der Helm

Full Text Available While a role for sleep in declarative memory processing is established, the qualitative nature of this consolidation benefit, and the physiological mechanisms mediating it, remain debated. Here, we investigate the impact of sleep physiology on characteristics of episodic memory using an item- (memory elements and context- (contextual details associated with those elements learning paradigm; the latter being especially dependent on the hippocampus. Following back-to-back encoding of two word lists, each associated with a different context, participants were assigned to either a Nap-group, who obtained a 120-min nap, or a No Nap-group. Six hours post-encoding, participants performed a recognition test involving item-memory and context-memory judgments. In contrast to item-memory, which demonstrated no between-group differences, a significant benefit in context-memory developed in the Nap-group, the extent of which correlated both with the amount of stage-2 NREM sleep and frontal fast sleep-spindles. Furthermore, a difference was observed on the basis of word-list order, with the sleep benefit and associated physiological correlations being selective for the second word-list, learned last (most proximal to sleep. These findings suggest that sleep may preferentially benefit contextual (hippocampal-dependent aspects of memory, supported by sleep-spindle oscillations, and that the temporal order of initial learning differentially determines subsequent offline consolidation.

Context odor presentation during sleep enhances memory in honeybees.

Science.gov (United States)

Zwaka, Hanna; Bartels, Ruth; Gora, Jacob; Franck, Vivien; Culo, Ana; Götsch, Moritz; Menzel, Randolf

2015-11-02

Sleep plays an important role in stabilizing new memory traces after learning [1-3]. Here we investigate whether sleep's role in memory processing is similar in evolutionarily distant species and demonstrate that a context trigger during deep-sleep phases improves memory in invertebrates, as it does in humans. We show that in honeybees (Apis mellifera), exposure to an odor during deep sleep that has been present during learning improves memory performance the following day. Presentation of the context odor during wake phases or novel odors during sleep does not enhance memory. In humans, memory consolidation can be triggered by presentation of a context odor during slow-wave sleep that had been present during learning [3-5]. Our results reveal that deep-sleep phases in honeybees have the potential to prompt memory consolidation, just as they do in humans. This study provides strong evidence for a conserved role of sleep-and how it affects memory processes-from insects to mammals. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sleep-related disorders in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Crinion, Sophie J

2014-02-01

Sleep may have several negative consequences in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Sleep is typically fragmented with diminished slow wave and rapid-eye-movement sleep, which likely represents an important contributing factor to daytime symptoms such as fatigue and lethargy. Furthermore, normal physiological adaptations during sleep, which result in mild hypoventilation in normal subjects, are more pronounced in COPD, which can result in clinically important nocturnal oxygen desaturation. The co-existence of obstructive sleep apnea and COPD is also common, principally because of the high prevalence of each disorder, and there is little convincing evidence that one disorder predisposes to the other. Nonetheless, this co-existence, termed the overlap syndrome, typically results in more pronounced nocturnal oxygen desaturation and there is a high prevalence of pulmonary hypertension in such patients. Management of sleep disorders in patients with COPD should address both sleep quality and disordered gas exchange. Non-invasive pressure support is beneficial in selected cases, particularly during acute exacerbations associated with respiratory failure, and is particularly helpful in patients with the overlap syndrome. There is limited evidence of benefit from pressure support in the chronic setting in COPD patients without obstructive sleep apnea.

Passive integrated circuits utilizing slow light in photonic crystal waveguides

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lavrinenko, Andrei; Têtu, Amélie; Yang, Lirong

2006-01-01

We report thorough investigations of photonic crystal waveguide properties in the slow light regime. The transmission and the group index near the cutoff wavelengths oscillate in phase in close analogy with the ID photonic crystal behavior. The influence of having a finite number of periods...

Monitoring sleep depth: analysis of bispectral index (BIS) based on polysomnographic recordings and sleep deprivation.

Science.gov (United States)

Giménez, Sandra; Romero, Sergio; Alonso, Joan Francesc; Mañanas, Miguel Ángel; Pujol, Anna; Baxarias, Pilar; Antonijoan, Rosa Maria

2017-02-01

The assessment and management of sleep are increasingly recommended in the clinical practice. Polysomnography (PSG) is considered the gold standard test to monitor sleep objectively, but some practical and technical constraints exist due to environmental and patient considerations. Bispectral index (BIS) monitoring is commonly used in clinical practice for guiding anesthetic administration and provides an index based on relationships between EEG components. Due to similarities in EEG synchronization between anesthesia and sleep, several studies have assessed BIS as a sleep monitor with contradictory results. The aim of this study was to evaluate objectively both the feasibility and reliability of BIS for sleep monitoring through a robust methodology, which included full PSG recordings at a baseline situation and after 40 h of sleep deprivation. Results confirmed that the BIS index was highly correlated with the hypnogram (0.89 ± 0.02), showing a progressive decrease as sleep deepened, and an increase during REM sleep (awake: 91.77 ± 8.42; stage N1: 83.95 ± 11.05; stage N2: 71.71 ± 11.99; stage N3: 42.41 ± 9.14; REM: 80.11 ± 8.73). Mean and median BIS values were lower in the post-deprivation night than in the baseline night, showing statistical differences for the slow wave sleep (baseline: 42.41 ± 9.14 vs. post-deprivation: 39.49 ± 10.27; p = 0.02). BIS scores were able to discriminate properly between deep (N3) and light (N1, N2) sleep. BIS values during REM overlapped those of other sleep stages, although EMG activity provided by the BIS monitor could help to identify REM sleep if needed. In conclusion, BIS monitors could provide a useful measure of sleep depth in especially particular situations such as intensive care units, and they could be used as an alternative for sleep monitoring in order to reduce PSG-derived costs and to increase capacity in ambulatory care.

Acquisition and Processing of Information During States of Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep and Slow-Wave Sleep

Science.gov (United States)

1990-07-01

fact, experimental reports that both pavlovian and instrumental conditioning can be achieved during sleep. Beh and Barratt (1965) paired a 300-Hz tone...been manipulated by drugs or by procedures that change an animal’s hormonal levels; and recall has been found to be better when testing takes place in

Intraindividual Increase of Homeostatic Sleep Pressure Across Acute and Chronic Sleep Loss: A High-Density EEG Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Maric, Angelina; Lustenberger, Caroline; Werth, Esther; Baumann, Christian R; Poryazova, Rositsa; Huber, Reto

2017-09-01

To compare intraindividually the effects of acute sleep deprivation (ASD) and chronic sleep restriction (CSR) on the homeostatic increase in slow wave activity (SWA) and to relate it to impairments in basic cognitive functioning, that is, vigilance. The increase in SWA after ASD (40 hours of wakefulness) and after CSR (seven nights with time in bed restricted to 5 hours per night) relative to baseline sleep was assessed in nine healthy, male participants (age = 18-26 years) by high-density electroencephalography. The SWA increase during the initial part of sleep was compared between the two conditions of sleep loss. The increase in SWA was related to the increase in lapses of vigilance in the psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) during the preceding days. While ASD induced a stronger increase in initial SWA than CSR, the increase was globally correlated across the two conditions in most electrodes. The increase in initial SWA was positively associated with the increase in PVT lapses. The individual homeostatic response in SWA is globally preserved across acute and chronic sleep loss, that is, individuals showing a larger increase after ASD also do so after CSR and vice versa. Furthermore, the increase in SWA is globally correlated to vigilance impairments after sleep loss over both conditions. Thus, the increase in SWA might therefore provide a physiological marker for individual differences in performance impairments after sleep loss. © Sleep Research Society 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Sleep Research Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail journals.permissions@oup.com.

Analysis and investigation of temperature and hydrostatic pressure effects on optical characteristics of multiple quantum well slow light devices.

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Abdolhosseini, Saeed; Kohandani, Reza; Kaatuzian, Hassan

2017-09-10

This paper represents the influences of temperature and hydrostatic pressure variations on GaAs/AlGaAs multiple quantum well slow light systems based on coherence population oscillations. An analytical model in non-integer dimension space is used to study the considerable effects of these parameters on optical properties of the slow light apparatus. Exciton oscillator strength and fractional dimension constants have special roles on the analytical model in fractional dimension. Hence, the impacts of hydrostatic pressure and temperature on exciton oscillator strength and fractional dimension quantity are investigated theoretically in this paper. Based on the achieved results, temperature and hydrostatic pressure play key roles on optical parameters of the slow light systems, such as the slow down factor and central energy of the device. It is found that the slope and value of the refractive index real part change with alterations of temperature and hydrostatic pressure in the range of 5-40 deg of Kelvin and 1 bar to 2 kbar, respectively. Thus, the peak value of the slow down factor can be adjusted by altering these parameters. Moreover, the central energy of the device shifts when the hydrostatic pressure is applied to the slow light device or temperature is varied. In comparison with previous reported experimental results, our simulations follow them successfully. It is shown that the maximum value of the slow down factor is estimated close to 5.5×10 4 with a fine adjustment of temperature and hydrostatic pressure. Meanwhile, the central energy shift of the slow light device rises up to 27 meV, which provides an appropriate basis for different optical devices in which multiple quantum well slow light is one of their essential subsections. This multiple quantum well slow light device has potential applications for use as a tunable optical buffer and pressure/temperature sensors.

After being challenged by a video game problem, sleep increases the chance to solve it.

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Felipe Beijamini

Full Text Available In the past years many studies have demonstrated the role of sleep on memory consolidation. It is known that sleeping after learning a declarative or non-declarative task, is better than remaining awake. Furthermore, there are reports of a possible role for dreams in consolidation of declarative memories. Other studies have reported the effect of naps on memory consolidation. With similar protocols, another set of studies indicated that sleep has a role in creativity and problem-solving. Here we hypothesised that sleep can increase the likelihood of solving problems. After struggling to solve a video game problem, subjects who took a nap (n = 14 were almost twice as likely to solve it when compared to the wake control group (n = 15. It is interesting to note that, in the nap group 9 out 14 subjects engaged in slow-wave sleep (SWS and all solved the problem. Surprisingly, we did not find a significant involvement of Rapid Eye Movement (REM sleep in this task. Slow-wave sleep is believed to be crucial for the transfer of memory-related information to the neocortex and implement intentions. Sleep can benefit problem-solving through the generalisation of newly encoded information and abstraction of the gist. In conclusion, our results indicate that sleep, even a nap, can potentiate the solution of problems that involve logical reasoning. Thus, sleep's function seems to go beyond memory consolidation to include managing of everyday-life events.

After being challenged by a video game problem, sleep increases the chance to solve it.

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Beijamini, Felipe; Pereira, Sofia Isabel Ribeiro; Cini, Felipe Augusto; Louzada, Fernando Mazzilli

2014-01-01

In the past years many studies have demonstrated the role of sleep on memory consolidation. It is known that sleeping after learning a declarative or non-declarative task, is better than remaining awake. Furthermore, there are reports of a possible role for dreams in consolidation of declarative memories. Other studies have reported the effect of naps on memory consolidation. With similar protocols, another set of studies indicated that sleep has a role in creativity and problem-solving. Here we hypothesised that sleep can increase the likelihood of solving problems. After struggling to solve a video game problem, subjects who took a nap (n = 14) were almost twice as likely to solve it when compared to the wake control group (n = 15). It is interesting to note that, in the nap group 9 out 14 subjects engaged in slow-wave sleep (SWS) and all solved the problem. Surprisingly, we did not find a significant involvement of Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep in this task. Slow-wave sleep is believed to be crucial for the transfer of memory-related information to the neocortex and implement intentions. Sleep can benefit problem-solving through the generalisation of newly encoded information and abstraction of the gist. In conclusion, our results indicate that sleep, even a nap, can potentiate the solution of problems that involve logical reasoning. Thus, sleep's function seems to go beyond memory consolidation to include managing of everyday-life events.

The beam slow extraction from a magnetic ring of Moscow meson facility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gusev, O.A.; Malitsky, N.D.; Severgin, Yu.P.; Titov, V.A.; Shukeilo, I.A.; Aseev, V.N.; Grachev, M.I.; Lobashev, V.M.; Ostroumov, P.N.; Ponomaryov, O.V.

1990-01-01

The beam slow extraction from the circular accelerators or stretcher rings is generally realized by the resonant excitation of betratron oscillations. A precise betatron frequency control is proved to be quite necessary for high-efficient slow ejection. The Coulomb field turns out to have a significant influence upon the slow extraction from the high-current medium energy proton storage rings. It prevents resonant excitation at a reasonable rate and reduces the ejection efficiency. The proton storage ring of Moscow meson facility is an example of a stretcher with a noticeable beam space charge. The detailed investigation of the resonant ejection, having been performed for our stretcher, resulted in the conclusion that extracted beam average current should be limited by the value of 50 mA, which is only 10% of the linac design current. The search for the alternative version to the resonant ejection made us to analyze in details and to develop an old-fashioned method, based on the radial betatron oscillation excitation while the beam is being gradually shifted onto the thin target. (author) 5 refs., 4 figs

A pilot study to compare the cerebral hemodynamics between patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSA) and periodic limb movement syndrome (PLMS) during nocturnal sleep with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS)

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Zhang, Zhongxing; Schneider, Maja; Laures, Marco; Fritschi, Ursula; Hügli, Gordana; Lehner, Isabella; Qi, Ming; Khatami, Ramin

2014-03-01

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSA) and periodic limb movement in sleep syndrome (PLMS) are two common sleep disorders. Previous studies showed that OSA and PLMS share common features, such as increased cardio-vascular risk, both apnea events and limb movements occur periodically, they are usually associated with cortical arousals, and both of them can induce declines in peripheral oxygen saturation measured with pulse oximetry. However, the question whether apnea events and limb movements also show similar characteristics in cerebral hemodynamic and oxygenation has never been addressed. In this pilot study, we will first time compare the cerebral hemodynamic changes induced by apnea events and limb movements in patients with OSA (n=4) and PLMS (n=4) with NIRS. In patients with OSA, we found periodic oscillations in HbO2, HHb, and blood volume induced by apnea/hypopnea events, HbO2 and HHb showed reverse changing trends. By contrast, the periodic oscillations linked to limb movements were only found in HbO2 and blood volume in patients with PLMS. These findings of different cerebral hemodynamics patterns between apnea events and limb movements may indicate different regulations of nervous system between these two sleep disorders.

Sleep spindles and intelligence in early childhood-developmental and trait-dependent aspects.

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Ujma, Péter P; Sándor, Piroska; Szakadát, Sára; Gombos, Ferenc; Bódizs, Róbert

2016-12-01

Sleep spindles act as a powerful marker of individual differences in cognitive ability. Sleep spindle parameters correlate with both age-related changes in cognitive abilities and with the age-independent concept of IQ. While some studies have specifically demonstrated the relationship between sleep spindles and intelligence in young children, our previous work in older subjects revealed sex differences in the sleep spindle correlates of IQ, which was never investigated in small children before. We investigated the relationship between age, Raven Colored Progressive Matrices (CPM) scores and sleep spindles in 28 young children (age 4-8 years, 15 girls). We specifically investigated sex differences in the psychometric correlates of sleep spindles. We also aimed to separate the correlates of sleep spindles that are because of age-related maturation from other effects that reflect an age-independent relationship between sleep spindles and general intelligence. Our results revealed a modest positive correlation between fast spindle amplitude and age. Raven CPM scores positively correlated with both slow and fast spindle amplitude, but this effect remained a tendency in males and vanished after correcting for the effects of age. Age-corrected correlations between Raven CPM scores and both slow and fast spindle amplitude were only significant in females. Overall, our results show that in male children sleep spindles are a maturational marker, but in female children they indicate trait-like intelligence, in line with previous studies in adolescent and adult subjects. Thalamocortical white matter connectivity may be the underlying mechanism behind both higher spindle amplitude and higher intelligence in female, but not male subjects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

A moderate increase of physiological CO2 in a critical range during stable NREM sleep episode: A potential gateway to REM sleep

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Vibha eMadan

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Sleep is characterized as rapid eye movement (REM and non-rapid eye movement (NREM sleep. Studies suggest that wake-related neurons in the basal forebrain, posterior hypothalamus and brainstem and NREM sleep-related neurons in the anterior-hypothalamic area inhibit each other, thus alternating sleep-wakefulness. Similarly, pontine REM-ON and REM-OFF neurons reciprocally inhibit each other for REM sleep modulation. It has been proposed that inhibition of locus coeruleus (LC REM-OFF neurons is pre-requisite for REM sleep genesis, but it remains ambiguous how REM-OFF neurons are hyperpolarized at REM sleep onset. The frequency of breathing pattern remains high during wake, slows down during NREM sleep but further escalates during REM sleep. As a result, brain CO2 level increases during NREM sleep, which may alter REM sleep manifestation. It has been reported that hypocapnia decreases REM sleep while hypercapnia increases REM sleep periods. The groups of brainstem chemosensory neurons, including those present in LC, sense the alteration in CO2 level and respond accordingly. For example; one group of LC neurons depolarize while other hyperpolarize during hypercapnia. In another group, hypercapnia initially depolarizes but later hyperpolarizes LC neurons. Besides chemosensory functions, LC’s REM-OFF neurons are an integral part of REM sleep executive machinery. We reason that increased CO2 level during a stable NREM sleep period may hyperpolarize LC neurons including REM-OFF, which may help initiate REM sleep. We propose that REM sleep might act as a sentinel to help maintain normal CO2 level for unperturbed sleep.

Sleep Deprivation Influences Circadian Gene Expression in the Lateral Habenula.

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Zhang, Beilin; Gao, Yanxia; Li, Yang; Yang, Jing; Zhao, Hua

2016-01-01

Sleep is governed by homeostasis and the circadian clock. Clock genes play an important role in the generation and maintenance of circadian rhythms but are also involved in regulating sleep homeostasis. The lateral habenular nucleus (LHb) has been implicated in sleep-wake regulation, since LHb gene expression demonstrates circadian oscillation characteristics. This study focuses on the participation of LHb clock genes in regulating sleep homeostasis, as the nature of their involvement is unclear. In this study, we observed changes in sleep pattern following sleep deprivation in LHb-lesioned rats using EEG recording techniques. And then the changes of clock gene expression (Per1, Per2, and Bmal1) in the LHb after 6 hours of sleep deprivation were detected by using real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR). We found that sleep deprivation increased the length of Non-Rapid Eye Movement Sleep (NREMS) and decreased wakefulness. LHb-lesioning decreased the amplitude of reduced wake time and increased NREMS following sleep deprivation in rats. qPCR results demonstrated that Per2 expression was elevated after sleep deprivation, while the other two genes were unaffected. Following sleep recovery, Per2 expression was comparable to the control group. This study provides the basis for further research on the role of LHb Per2 gene in the regulation of sleep homeostasis.

Time-frequency dynamics during sleep spindles on the EEG in rodents with a genetic predisposition to absence epilepsy (WAG/Rij rats)

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Hramov, Alexander E.; Sitnikova, Evgenija Y.; Pavlov, Alexey N.; Grubov, Vadim V.; Koronovskii, Alexey A.; Khramova, Marina V.

2015-03-01

Sleep spindles are known to appear spontaneously in the thalamocortical neuronal network of the brain during slow-wave sleep; pathological processes in the thalamocortical network may be the reason of the absence epilepsy. The aim of the present work is to study developed changes in the time-frequency structure of sleep spindles during the progressive development of the absence epilepsy in WAG/Rij rats. EEG recordings were made at age 7 and 9 months. Automatic recognition and subsequent analysis of sleep spindles on the EEG were performed using the continuous wavelet transform. The duration of epileptic discharges and the total duration of epileptic activity were found to increase with age, while the duration of sleep spindles, conversely, decreased. In terms of the mean frequency, sleep spindles could be divided into three classes: `slow' (mean frequency 9.3Hz), `medium' (11.4Hz), and `fast' (13.5Hz). Slow and medium (transitional) spindles in five-month-old animals showed increased frequency from the beginning to the end of the spindle. The more intense the epilepsy is, the shorter are the durations of spindles of all types. The mean frequencies of `medium' and `fast' spindles were higher in rats with more intense signs of epilepsy. Overall, high epileptic activity in WAG/Rij rats was linked with significant changes in spindles of the transitional type, with less marked changes in the two traditionally identified types of spindle, slow and fast.

The relationship of luteinizing hormone secretion to sleep in women during the early follicular phase: effects of sleep reversal and a prolonged three-hour sleep-wake schedule.

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Kapen, S; Boyar, R; Hellman, L; Weitzman, E D

1976-06-01

The relationship of luteinizing hormone (LH) secretion to sleep in adult women was investigated in two ways: an acute 180 degrees sleep-wake cycle reversal in a group of six women and a schedule in which a young woman engaged in a three hour sleep-wake cycle (two hours awake, one hour allowed for sleep continuously for ten days--the study was carried out on the eighth day). Each subject in the reversal study had a baseline period during which plasma samples were collected every twenty minutes for twenty-four hours and nocturnal sleep was monitored electrophysiologically during the early follicular phase of the menstrual cycle. During a succeeding cycle, the study was repeated after sleep-wake reversal. LH secretory patterns were analyzed by comparing the 24-hour mean plasma LH concentration with the hourly averages in percentage terms, using Stage 2 sleep onset as the zero point. LH secretion was depressed to approximately the same degree in both the baseline and reversal studies. The average hourly percentage difference from the 24-hour mean for the four-hour period following sleep onset was -13.4% and -13.1% for the baseline and reversal, respectively. These percentage deviations represented practically the entire negative deviation for the 24-hour period in both studies. The difference between the first four-hour period after sleep onset and the second was significant. The subject on a three-hour cycle had a baseline in which a large decrease in LH secretion occurred after sleep onset (-52.2% during the third hour). Her LH secretory pattern during the three-hour sleep-wake schedule was characterized by a fall during sleep periods, particularly when slow wave sleep (SWS) predominated. However, no correlation was found between specific sleep stages and LH secretion in the six women of the reversal study. These results confirm a relationship of LH secretion to sleep in adult women, one which is different from that described during puberty.