Topic: slow wave sleep

Sleep disturbances are commonly linked with and constitute fundamental characteristics of anxiety disorders. However, the effects of actively increased sleep, especially slow wave sleep (SWS), after social defeat stress, on emotion regulation remain unexplored. By inducing time-locked SWS in mice by optogenetically stimulating the SWS promoting center in Vgat-ChR2-eYFP mice, we provide a direct approach to analyze the influences of SWS on anxiety-like behavior. Here we report that SWS induced by photostimulation immediately after social defeat prevents the development of anxiety disorder. We a

Hypocretin(orexin)-producing neurons in the lateral hypothalamic area are important for sleep regulation and their damage manifests clinically as narcolepsy in humans. In animal experiments, extensive lesions of these neurons confirmed and clarified their physiological importance. Smaller, partial lesions of hypocretinergic neurons may uncover more subtle mechanisms of function of hypocretin system and may help understand more delicate processes in early stages of pathogenesis of narcolepsy. In a lesioned group of rats (N=9) bilateral injections of hypocretin-2-saporin (Hcrt2-SAP) conjugate in

Synaptic mechanisms of memory consolidation in the human brain remain largely unexplored. During slow wave sleep, which is critical for memory formation, neocortical neurons exhibit characteristic membrane potential oscillations known as UP and DOWN states. We demonstrate that sleep-like UP and DOWN states modulate axonal action potentials and enhance synaptic transmission between human layer 2 & 3 pyramidal neurons. In the cortical microcircuit, synaptic enhancement by synchronous UP and DOWN states gives rise to efficient recruitment of action potentials in postsynaptic neurons, which in tur

The synchronization of the phase of neuronal oscillations and the correlated fluctuations in the envelopes of neuronal signals are two prominent coupling modes that govern the brain dynamics. They mediate in an efficient and selective manner the communication in networks of cortical and subcortical areas to facilitate sensory processing, behavior, and perception. However, it is not clear yet if and how these two types of intrinsic coupling modes (ICMs) interact with each other. Here we investigate the relation between both coupling modes across different brain states. In accordance with our pr

Slow wave sleep (SWS) is essential for memory consolidation. When endogenous SWS is boosted by so-tES (0.75Hz) applied during sleep, overnight memory consolidation can be enhanced1. The present study explored whether so-tES (0.75Hz), applied immediately after learning and during wake, could enhance overnight memory consolidation and reduce the need for subsequent sleep, compared to an equivalent sham condition. Healthy young adults (18–35 years; n=14) completed cognitive and motor learning tasks in the evening before receiving 15 minutes of active or sham so-tES over task-related brain regions