Fattinger Sara, Jenni Oskar G, Schmitt Bernhard, Achermann Peter, Huber Reto
Child Development Center, University Children's Hospital Zurich, Switzerland ; Children Research Center, University Children's Hospital Zurich, Switzerland.
Child Development Center, University Children's Hospital Zurich, Switzerland ; Children Research Center, University Children's Hospital Zurich, Switzerland ; Zurich Center for Integrative Human Physiology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Sleep. 2014 Feb 1;37(2):245-53. doi: 10.5665/sleep.3390.
Slow wave activity (SWA, 0.5-4.5 Hz) is a well-established marker for sleep pressure in adults. Recent studies have shown that increasing sleep pressure is reflected by an increased synchronized firing pattern of cortical neurons, which can be measured by the slope of sleep slow waves. Thus we aimed at investigating whether the slope of sleep slow waves might provide an alternative marker to study the homeostatic regulation of sleep during early human development.
All-night sleep electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded longitudinally at 2, 4, 6, and 9 months after birth.
Home recording.
11 healthy full-term infants (5 male, 6 female).
None.
The slope of sleep slow waves increased with age. At all ages the slope decreased from the first to the last hour of non rapid-eye-movement (NREM) sleep, even when controlling for amplitude differences (P < 0.002). The decrease of the slope was also present in the cycle-by-cycle time course across the night (P < 0.001) at the age of 6 months when the alternating pattern of low-delta activity (0.75-1.75 Hz) is most prominent. Moreover, we found distinct topographical differences exhibiting the steepest slope over the occipital cortex.
The results suggest an age-dependent increase in synchronization of cortical activity during infancy, which might be due to increasing synaptogenesis. Previous studies have shown that during early postnatal development synaptogenesis is most pronounced over the occipital cortex, which could explain why the steepest slope was found in the occipital derivation. Our results provide evidence that the homeostatic regulation of sleep develops early in human infants.
慢波活动（SWA，0.5 - 4.5赫兹）是成人睡眠压力的一个公认指标。最近的研究表明，睡眠压力增加表现为皮质神经元同步放电模式增强，这可以通过睡眠慢波的斜率来测量。因此，我们旨在研究睡眠慢波斜率是否可作为一种替代指标，用于研究人类早期发育过程中睡眠的稳态调节。
在出生后2、4、6和9个月纵向记录整夜睡眠脑电图（EEG）。
在家中记录。
11名健康足月婴儿（5名男性，6名女性）。
无。
睡眠慢波斜率随年龄增长而增加。在所有年龄段，从非快速眼动（NREM）睡眠的第一个小时到最后一个小时，斜率均下降，即使在控制了幅度差异后也是如此（P < 0.002）。在6个月大时，当低δ活动（0.75 - 1.75赫兹）的交替模式最为明显时，夜间逐周期时间进程中斜率的下降也存在（P < 0.001）。此外，我们发现枕叶皮质上的斜率最为陡峭，存在明显的地形差异。
结果表明，婴儿期皮质活动同步性随年龄增长而增加，这可能是由于突触发生增加所致。先前的研究表明，在出生后早期发育过程中，枕叶皮质的突触发生最为明显，这可以解释为什么在枕叶导联中发现最陡峭的斜率。我们的结果提供了证据，表明睡眠的稳态调节在人类婴儿早期就已发展。
