A mechanism for learning with sleep spindles. (25th May 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Peyrache, Adrien; Seibt, Julie
• Is Part Of: Philosophical transactions. Volume 375:Number 1799(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-05-25
• Subjects: sleep -- spindles -- memory -- plasticity -- coupling -- reactivation; Biology -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals; 570
• DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0230
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0962-8436

Abstract

Abstract : Spindles are ubiquitous oscillations during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. A growing body of evidence points to a possible link with learning and memory, and the underlying mechanisms are now starting to be unveiled. Specifically, spindles are associated with increased dendritic activity and high intracellular calcium levels, a situation favourable to plasticity, as well as with control of spiking output by feed-forward inhibition. During spindles, thalamocortical networks become unresponsive to inputs, thus potentially preventing interference between memory-related internal information processing and extrinsic signals. At the system level, spindles are co-modulated with other major NREM oscillations, including hippocampal sharp wave-ripples (SWRs) and neocortical slow waves, both previously shown to be associated with learning and memory. The sequential occurrence of reactivation at the time of SWRs followed by neuronal plasticity-promoting spindles is a possible mechanism to explain NREM sleep-dependent consolidation of memories. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Memory reactivation: replaying events past, present and future'.