Non-rapid eye movement sleep

About: Non-rapid eye movement sleep is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 8661 publications have been published within this topic receiving 389465 citations. The topic is also known as: NREM.

Hypothalamic feedforward inhibition of thalamocortical network controls arousal and consciousness

Abstract: During non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, synchronous synaptic activity in the thalamocortical network generates predominantly low-frequency oscillations (<4 Hz) that are modulated by inhibitory inputs from the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN). Whether TRN cells integrate sleep-wake signals from subcortical circuits remains unclear. We found that GABA neurons from the lateral hypothalamus (LHGABA) exert a strong inhibitory control over TRN GABA neurons (TRNGABA). We found that optogenetic activation of this circuit recapitulated state-dependent changes of TRN neuron activity in behaving mice and induced rapid arousal during NREM, but not REM, sleep. During deep anesthesia, activation of this circuit induced sustained cortical arousal. In contrast, optogenetic silencing of LHGABA-TRNGABA transmission increased the duration of NREM sleep and amplitude of delta (1-4 Hz) oscillations. Collectively, these results demonstrate that TRN cells integrate subcortical arousal inputs selectively during NREM sleep and may participate in sleep intensity.

Effect of age on EEG arousals in normal sleep.

Abstract: EEG arousals were quantified in 40 nocturnal polysomnographic recordings belonging to four age groups (teenagers: 10 to 19 years; young adults: 20 to 39 years; middle-aged: 40 to 59 years; elderly: > or = 60 years). Ten subjects (five males and five females) participated in each group. The subjects were healthy and sound sleepers. All sleep recordings were preceded by an adaptation night which aimed at excluding the presence of sleep-related disorders. The recordings were carried out in a partially soundproof recording chamber and in a standard laboratory setting. Arousal indices (AI), defined as the number of arousals per hour of sleep, were calculated for total sleep time (AI/TST) and for all the sleep stages. AI/TST increased linearly with age (r = 0.852; p < 0.00001): teenagers (13.8), young adults (14.7), middle-aged (17.8), elderly (27.1). An age-related positive linear correlation was found also for the arousal indices referred to NREM sleep (r = 0.811; p < 0.00001) and to stages 1 and 2 (r = 0.712; p < 0.00001), while in stages 3 and 4 and in REM sleep, arousal indices showed stable values across the ages. Overall, arousals lasted 14.9 +/- 2.3 seconds, with arousal duration stable across the ages (range of means: 13.3-16.6 seconds) and no relevant differences between NREM sleep (14.6 +/- 2.5 seconds) and REM sleep (16.2 +/- 5 seconds). The paper discusses the impact of age on arousals, the similarities between arousals and the phases d'activation transitoire, and the consideration that arousals are physiological components of sleep.

Ventilation and arousal responses to hypercapnia in normal sleeping humans

Abstract: We measured arousal and ventilatory responses to rebreathing from a small bag, initially approximately 7% CO2 in 40% O2, via a nose mask in 13 normal human adults. With deepening non-rapid-eye-movement sleep (NREM), males aroused at increasing alveolar PCO2 (mean +/- SE: stage II 58.6 +/- 1.7, stage III 61.2 +/- 1.0, stage IV 63.8 +/- 0.8 Torr), whereas in rapid-eye-movement sleep (REM), arousal alveolar PCO2 was 57.7 +/- 0.7 Torr, i.e., much lower than in stage III and IV NREM. Females showed no significant change in arousal alveolar PCO2, (II 57.6 +/- 0.9, III 57.3 +/- 1.3, IV 59.4 +/- 0.9, REM 56.3 +/- 1.0 Torr). Male ventilatory response was 2.5 +/- 0.1 (SE) 1 X min-1 X Torr-1 and fell by 49% in NREM (1.29 +/- 0.13) and by 69% in REM (0.78 +/- 0.18). Female response was little affected by state, being similar to male NREM response (wake 1.39 +/- 0.14, NREM 1.40 +/- 0.13, REM 1.11 +/- 0.26 1 X min-1 X Torr-1). In NREM tests, there was no change in sleep state until arousal, whereas in REM, subjects awoke abruptly with the onset of rebreathing (11 cases), showed a transient arousal with onset but continued in REM until final arousal (21 cases), or changed to NREM at onset (2 cases). These arousal results contrast sharply with findings in tracheostomized dogs and in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, where asphyxic arousal is later in REM than in NREM, suggesting that the events at test onset in REM in the present study may be related to upper airway sensitivity to CO2 specific to REM.

Age-related changes in sleep in depressed and normal subjects

Abstract: All-night electroencephalographic (EEG) sleep data were examined as a function of age in normal control subjects and hospitalized, unmedicated depressed patients with primary affective illness. By analysis of variance, Total Sleep time, Delta Sleep, Sleep Efficiency, Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep, and REM Latency decreased as a function of age, whereas Early Morning Awake time and Intermittent Awake time increase. Compared with normal controls, after the effects of age were covaried out, depressed patients had a greater Sleep Latency, Early Morning Awake time, Intermittent Awake time, Duration and REM Density of the first REM period, and average REM Density for the night, as well as less Sleep Efficiency, less Delta Sleep, and shorter REM Latency. Early Morning Awake time increased with age in depressive but not in normals.