Varga Andrew W, Kishi Akifumi, Mantua Janna, Lim Jason, Koushyk Viachaslau, Leibert David P, Osorio Ricardo S, Rapoport David M, Ayappa Indu
New York University (NYU) Sleep Disorders Center and Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, New York 10003
New York University (NYU) Sleep Disorders Center and.
J Neurosci. 2014 Oct 29;34(44):14571-7. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3220-14.2014.
Hippocampal electrophysiology and behavioral evidence support a role for sleep in spatial navigational memory, but the role of particular sleep stages is less clear. Although rodent models suggest the importance of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep in spatial navigational memory, a similar role for REM sleep has never been examined in humans. We recruited subjects with severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) who were well treated and adherent with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). Restricting CPAP withdrawal to REM through real-time monitoring of the polysomnogram provides a novel way of addressing the role of REM sleep in spatial navigational memory with a physiologically relevant stimulus. Individuals spent two different nights in the laboratory, during which subjects performed timed trials before and after sleep on one of two unique 3D spatial mazes. One night of sleep was normally consolidated with use of therapeutic CPAP throughout, whereas on the other night, CPAP was reduced only in REM sleep, allowing REM OSA to recur. REM disruption via this method caused REM sleep reduction and significantly fragmented any remaining REM sleep without affecting total sleep time, sleep efficiency, or slow-wave sleep. We observed improvements in maze performance after a night of normal sleep that were significantly attenuated after a night of REM disruption without changes in psychomotor vigilance. Furthermore, the improvement in maze completion time significantly positively correlated with the mean REM run duration across both sleep conditions. In conclusion, we demonstrate a novel role for REM sleep in human memory formation and highlight a significant cognitive consequence of OSA.
海马体电生理学和行为学证据支持睡眠在空间导航记忆中发挥作用，但特定睡眠阶段的作用尚不清楚。尽管啮齿动物模型表明快速眼动（REM）睡眠在空间导航记忆中很重要，但REM睡眠在人类中的类似作用从未被研究过。我们招募了患有严重阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停（OSA）且经持续气道正压通气（CPAP）良好治疗并依从的受试者。通过多导睡眠图的实时监测将CPAP撤除限制在REM睡眠阶段，为通过生理相关刺激研究REM睡眠在空间导航记忆中的作用提供了一种新方法。受试者在实验室度过两个不同的夜晚，在此期间，他们在两个独特的3D空间迷宫之一上进行睡眠前后的定时试验。一个晚上的睡眠全程正常使用治疗性CPAP进行巩固，而另一个晚上，仅在REM睡眠阶段减少CPAP，使REM睡眠呼吸暂停复发。通过这种方法破坏REM睡眠会导致REM睡眠减少，并使任何剩余的REM睡眠显著碎片化，而不影响总睡眠时间、睡眠效率或慢波睡眠。我们观察到，正常睡眠一晚后迷宫表现有所改善，但在REM睡眠被破坏一晚后，这种改善显著减弱，且精神运动警觉性没有变化。此外，迷宫完成时间的改善与两种睡眠条件下的平均REM持续时间显著正相关。总之，我们证明了REM睡眠在人类记忆形成中的新作用，并强调了OSA的重大认知后果。
