Dataset Information

Source modeling sleep slow waves.

ABSTRACT: Slow waves are the most prominent electroencephalographic (EEG) feature of sleep. These waves arise from the synchronization of slow oscillations in the membrane potentials of millions of neurons. Scalp-level studies have indicated that slow waves are not instantaneous events, but rather they travel across the brain. Previous studies of EEG slow waves were limited by the poor spatial resolution of EEGs and by the difficulty of relating scalp potentials to the activity of the underlying cortex. Here we use high-density EEG (hd-EEG) source modeling to show that individual spontaneous slow waves have distinct cortical origins, propagate uniquely across the cortex, and involve unique subsets of cortical structures. However, when the waves are examined en masse, we find that there are diffuse hot spots of slow wave origins centered on the lateral sulci. Furthermore, slow wave propagation along the anterior-posterior axis of the brain is largely mediated by a cingulate highway. As a group, slow waves are associated with large currents in the medial frontal gyrus, the middle frontal gyrus, the inferior frontal gyrus, the anterior cingulate, the precuneus, and the posterior cingulate. These areas overlap with the major connectional backbone of the cortex and with many parts of the default network.

SUBMITTER: Murphy M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2635823 | biostudies-other | 2009 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Source modeling sleep slow waves.

Murphy Michael M Riedner Brady A BA Huber Reto R Massimini Marcello M Ferrarelli Fabio F Tononi Giulio G

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20090122 5

Slow waves are the most prominent electroencephalographic (EEG) feature of sleep. These waves arise from the synchronization of slow oscillations in the membrane potentials of millions of neurons. Scalp-level studies have indicated that slow waves are not instantaneous events, but rather they travel across the brain. Previous studies of EEG slow waves were limited by the poor spatial resolution of EEGs and by the difficulty of relating scalp potentials to the activity of the underlying cortex. H ...[more]

PMID: 19164756

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Project description:Epileptic discharges in focal epilepsy are frequently activated during non-rapid eye movement sleep. Sleep slow waves are present during this stage and have been shown to include a deactivated ('down', hyperpolarized) and an activated state ('up', depolarized). The 'up' state enhances physiological rhythms, and we hypothesize that sleep slow waves and particularly the 'up' state are the specific components of non-rapid eye movement sleep that mediate the activation of epileptic activity. We investigated eight patients with pharmaco-resistant focal epilepsies who underwent combined scalp-intracerebral electroencephalography for diagnostic evaluation. We analysed 259 frontal electroencephalographic channels, and manually marked 442 epileptic spikes and 8487 high frequency oscillations during high amplitude widespread slow waves, and during matched control segments with low amplitude widespread slow waves, non-widespread slow waves or no slow waves selected during the same sleep stages (total duration of slow wave and control segments: 49 min each). During the slow waves, spikes and high frequency oscillations were more frequent than during control segments (79% of spikes during slow waves and 65% of high frequency oscillations, both P ∼ 0). The spike and high frequency oscillation density also increased for higher amplitude slow waves. We compared the density of spikes and high frequency oscillations between the 'up' and 'down' states. Spike and high frequency oscillation density was highest during the transition from the 'up' to the 'down' state. Interestingly, high frequency oscillations in channels with normal activity expressed a different peak at the transition from the 'down' to the 'up' state. These results show that the apparent activation of epileptic discharges by non-rapid eye movement sleep is not a state-dependent phenomenon but is predominantly associated with specific events, the high amplitude widespread slow waves that are frequent, but not continuous, during this state of sleep. Both epileptic spikes and high frequency oscillations do not predominate, like physiological activity, during the 'up' state but during the transition from the 'up' to the 'down' state of the slow wave, a period of high synchronization. Epileptic discharges appear therefore more associated with synchronization than with excitability. Furthermore, high frequency oscillations in channels devoid of epileptic activity peak differently during the slow wave cycle from those in channels with epileptic activity. This property may allow differentiating physiological from pathological high frequency oscillations, a problem that is unresolved until now.

Dataset Information

Source modeling sleep slow waves.

Publications

Source modeling sleep slow waves.

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