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Comment
. 2020 Dec 23:9:e64597.
doi: 10.7554/eLife.64597.

Supplying the sleeping brain

Stephanie D Williams  1 , Laura D Lewis  2
Affiliations
Comment

Supplying the sleeping brain

Stephanie D Williams et al. Elife. .

Abstract

During sleep, the brain experiences large fluctuations in blood volume and altered coupling between neural and vascular signals.

Keywords: arousal state; blood flow; electrophysiology; mouse; neuroscience; neurovascular coupling; optical imaging; sleep.

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Conflict of interest statement

SW, LL No competing interests declared

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Large fluctuations in blood volume and altered neurovascular coupling occur during sleep in mice.
Changes in neurovascular dynamics were examined in head-fixed mice (left) which were awake (grey), in non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM; blue), and rapid eye movement sleep (REM; red). (A) As inferred from changes in cortical hemoglobin levels, total blood volume increases drastically during sleep, especially during REM sleep. (B) Average arteriole dilation during sleep increases above the level found during the awake state. (C) Sleep occurs during eyes-open behavioral rest in head-fixed mice. NREM sleep (38% of rest periods) commonly occurred during behavioral rest. REM sleep was less common but still occurred (5% of rest periods). (D) The strength of coupling between neural signals (multi-unit activity, or MUA) and levels of cortical hemoglobin (HbT) increased during NREM sleep, and the timing of coupling shifted across sleep stages.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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