Journal article
Sleep, plasticity and memory from molecules to whole-brain networks
Current biology, Vol.23(17), pp.R774-R788
09/09/2013
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2013.07.025
PMCID: PMC4263505
PMID: 24028961
Abstract
Despite the ubiquity of sleep across phylogeny, its function remains elusive. In this review, we consider one compelling candidate: brain plasticity associated with memory processing. Focusing largely on hippocampus-dependent memory in rodents and humans, we describe molecular, cellular, network, whole-brain and behavioral evidence establishing a role for sleep both in preparation for initial memory encoding, and in the subsequent offline consolidation of memory. Sleep and sleep deprivation bidirectionally alter molecular signaling pathways that regulate synaptic strength and control plasticity-related gene transcription and protein translation. At the cellular level, sleep deprivation impairs cellular excitability necessary for inducing synaptic potentiation and accelerates the decay of long-lasting forms of synaptic plasticity. In contrast, rapid eye movement (REM) and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep enhance previously induced synaptic potentiation, although synaptic de-potentiation during sleep has also been observed. Beyond single cell dynamics, large-scale cell ensembles express coordinated replay of prior learning-related firing patterns during subsequent NREM sleep. At the whole-brain level, somewhat analogous learning-associated hippocampal (re)activation during NREM sleep has been reported in humans. Moreover, the same cortical NREM oscillations associated with replay in rodents also promote human hippocampal memory consolidation, and this process can be manipulated using exogenous reactivation cues during sleep. Mirroring molecular findings in rodents, specific NREM sleep oscillations before encoding refresh human hippocampal learning capacity, while deprivation of sleep conversely impairs subsequent hippocampal activity and associated encoding. Together, these cross-descriptive level findings demonstrate that the unique neurobiology of sleep exerts powerful effects on molecular, cellular and network mechanisms of plasticity that govern both initial learning and subsequent long-term memory consolidation.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Sleep, plasticity and memory from molecules to whole-brain networks
- Creators
- Ted Abel - Department of Biology, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. Electronic address: abele@sas.upenn.eduRobbert HavekesJared M SaletinMatthew P Walker
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Current biology, Vol.23(17), pp.R774-R788
- Publisher
- England
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.cub.2013.07.025
- PMID
- 24028961
- PMCID
- PMC4263505
- ISSN
- 0960-9822
- eISSN
- 1879-0445
- Grant note
- R01 AG031164 / NIA NIH HHS R01 MH093537 / NIMH NIH HHS R21 DA031939 / NIDA NIH HHS
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 09/09/2013
- Academic Unit
- Molecular Physiology and Biophysics; Psychiatry; Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute; Neuroscience and Pharmacology; Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Record Identifier
- 9984065835202771
Metrics
13 Record Views