RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The Sleep Slow Oscillation as a Traveling Wave
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 6862
OP 6870
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1318-04.2004
VO 24
IS 31
A1 Massimini, Marcello
A1 Huber, Reto
A1 Ferrarelli, Fabio
A1 Hill, Sean
A1 Tononi, Giulio
YR 2004
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/24/31/6862.abstract
AB During much of sleep, virtually all cortical neurons undergo a slow oscillation (<1 Hz) in membrane potential, cycling from a hyperpolarized state of silence to a depolarized state of intense firing. This slow oscillation is the fundamental cellular phenomenon that organizes other sleep rhythms such as spindles and slow waves. Using high-density electroencephalogram recordings in humans, we show here that each cycle of the slow oscillation is a traveling wave. Each wave originates at a definite site and travels over the scalp at an estimated speed of 1.2-7.0 m/sec. Waves originate more frequently in prefrontal-orbitofrontal regions and propagate in an anteroposterior direction. Their rate of occurrence increases progressively reaching almost once per second as sleep deepens. The pattern of origin and propagation of sleep slow oscillations is reproducible across nights and subjects and provides a blueprint of cortical excitability and connectivity. The orderly propagation of correlated activity along connected pathways may play a role in spike timing-dependent synaptic plasticity during sleep.