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Journal article

Sleep Spindles: Where They Come From, What They Do.

  • Lüthi A Department of Fundamental Neurosciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland anita.luthi@unil.ch.
  • 2013-08-29
Published in:
  • The Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry. - 2014
CaV3 channel
EEG
NREM sleep
burst
cyclic AMP
inhibition
learning
rhythm
sensory transmission
voltage-gated calcium channel
Animals
Biological Clocks
Brain Waves
Cerebral Cortex
Humans
Learning
Sleep Stages
Thalamus
English Sleep spindles are extensively studied electroencephalographic rhythms that recur periodically during non-rapid eye movement sleep and that are associated with rhythmic discharges of neurons throughout the thalamocortical system. Their occurrence thus constrains many aspects of the communication between thalamus and cortex, ranging from sensory transmission, to cortical plasticity and learning, to development and disease. I review these functional aspects in conjunction with novel findings on the cellular and molecular makeup of spindle-pacemaking circuits. A highlight in the search of roles for sleep spindles is the repeated finding that spindles correlate with memory consolidation in humans and animals. By illustrating that spindles are at the forefront understanding on how the brain might benefit from sleep rhythms, I hope to stimulate further experimentation.
Language
  • English
Open access status
green
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Persistent URL
https://folia.unifr.ch/global/documents/46219
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