AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF THE CORTICAL REACTIVITY DURING SLEEP AND WAKEFULNESS,
Abstract
In intact cats with chronically implanted electrodes, electrical potentials have been evoked in the visual cortex by single stimuli of the optic radiations and of the lateral geniculate body, and in the sensory-motor cortex by simulation of the pyramidal tract and of the VPL thalamic nucleus. A comparison has been made between the mean amplitude of the responses recorded during wakefulness, light sleep (slow, high amplitude EEG activity) and deep sleep (low voltage, fast EEG activity and EMG flattening). The amplitude of the cortical responses evoked by the optic radiations or antidromically by the pyramidal tract is larger during deep sleep than during wakefulness in the great majority of cases; no significant difference is found between the responses recorded during light sleep and deep sleep. The recovery cycle of the visual cortex is more rapid during sleep than during wakefulness in most of the cases; it is similar in the two phases of sleep. The amplitude of the cortical responses to thalamic stimulation is larger during deep sleep than during wakefulness in all the cases; it is, however, relatively small during light sleep. The results indicate that the reactivity of the cortical neurons is enhanced during both light sleep and deep sleep. Thalamic reactivity is also larger during deep sleep than during wakefulness, but is depressed during light sleep. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1963
- Accession Number
- AD0621599
Entities
People
- G. F. Rossi
- G. Rosadini
- M. Palestini
- M. Pisano
Organizations
- University of Genoa