Travelling spindles create necessary conditions for spike-timing-dependent plasticity in humans
Abstract
Sleep spindles facilitate memory consolidation in the cortex during mammalian non-rapid eye movement sleep. In rodents, phase-locked firing during spindles may facilitate spike-timing-dependent plasticity by grouping pre-then-post-synaptic cell firing within ~25 ms. Currently, microphysiological evidence in humans for conditions conducive for spike-timing-dependent plasticity during spindles is absent. Here, we analyze field potentials and unit firing from middle/upper layers during spindles from 10 × 10 microelectrode arrays at 400 μm pitch in humans. We report strong tonic and phase-locked increases in firing and co-firing within 25 ms during spindles, especially those co-occurring with down-to-upstate transitions. Co-firing, spindle co-occurrence, and spindle coherence are greatest within ~2 mm, and high co-firing of units on different contacts depends on high spindle coherence between those contacts. Spindles propagate at ~0.28 m/s in distinct patterns, with correlated cell co-firing sequences. Spindles hence organize spatiotemporal patterns of neuronal co-firing in ways that may provide pre-conditions for plasticity during non-rapid eye movement sleep.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Feb 15, 2021
- Source ID
- 10.1038/s41467-021-21298-x
Entities
People
- Anna Sargsyan
- Charles W. Dickey
- Emad N. Eskandar
- Eric Halgren
- Joseph R. Madsen
- Sydney S. Cash
Organizations
- National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
- National Institute of Mental Health
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Department of Health and Human Services