2. Neural Basis of Sleep Flashcards
electroencephalogram
- EEG = measures electrical brain activity from the scalp
electrooculargram
- EOG = measures eye movements
electromyogram
- EMG = muscle activity (usually chin or legs)
polysomnography
- PSG = all the techniques used to record information about sleep
- objective measure often delivered with a sleep survey
delta
< 4Hz
> 50Mv
theta
4-7Hz
10-50Mv
alpha
8-13Hx
5-15Mv
beta
> 13Hz
< 5Mv
frequency and amplitude
- used to classify different levels of arousal and sleep states
frequency
amount of oscillations in a given time (a second)
amplitude
size of oscillation
sleep-wake regulation
- many neurotransmitters involved in sleep, some excitatory and others inhibitory (some stabilising neuromodulators)
- all help govern sleep
- psychiatric disorders often have impairments in these
excitatory neurotransmitters
- Acetylcholine
- Dopamine
- Histamine
- Noreadrenaline
- Serotonin
inhibitory neurotransmitters
- Galanin
- GABA
neuromodulators
- hypocretin (orexin)
pineal
- gland found in the thalamus
- produces melatonin
- feeds back on master clock and gives a biological representation of the dark as it is released at night
- light blocks melatonin, interacting with the circadian rhythm by blocking sleep
- light also has an alerting effect
- keeps us aligned to local time
diurnal
active during the day
nocturnal
active during the night
how do we know when to sleep?
- circadian rhythms
- function of living organisms that display a rhythm of about 24h (sleep)
- different structures and processes take place over the 24h cycle (hormones, skin repair, appetite)
- sleep wake regulation - suprachiasmatic nucleus
- homeostasis
- Pineal
sleep wake regulation
- suprachiasmatic nucleus
- internal representation of time
- if destroyed there is no 24h rhythm
- SCN neurons display 24h cycle even after removed
- SCN is an internal clock with all cells having a 24h cycle, this is how we control our circadian rhythm
- circadian rhythm particularly sensitive to light (sets clock)
- Ibuka & Kawamura (1975)
- Zaidi et al (2007)
Ibuka & Kawamura (1975)
- lesions the SCN in rats
- found that the rats no longer had regulation in their 24h rhythms
exogenous zietgebers
External cues which regulate our internal body clock
endogenous pacemaker
internal mechanisms that govern biological rhythms, in particular the circadian sleep/wake cycle
- E.G. the SCN
Zaidi et al (2007)
- even if you are blind you can still entrain your internal clock through light
- melanopsin in photo-sensitive retinal gangloin cells does this (SCN depends on these exogenous zietgebers)