Integrated Program in Neuroscience, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2017 Jun;44:167-177. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2017.05.001. Epub 2017 May 22.
Memory consolidation, a process which stabilizes recently acquired information into long-term storage, is thought to be optimized during sleep. Although recent evidence indicates that non-rapid-eye movement sleep (NREMs) is directly involved in memory consolidation, the role of rapid-eye movement sleep (REMs) in this process has remained controversial due to the extreme difficulty in experimentally isolating neural activity during REMs. Using a combination of electrophysiological recording and optogenetic techniques, recent work demonstrated for the first time that neural activity occurring specifically during REMs is required for spatial and contextual memory consolidation. Identifying the underlying mechanisms behind these observations, precisely how they translate to humans, and clarifying the extent of REMs' role in other modalities of memory are important challenges of future research with implications for human health.
记忆巩固是将新近获得的信息稳定地存储为长期记忆的过程，人们认为它在睡眠期间得到了优化。尽管最近的证据表明非快速眼动睡眠（NREMs）直接参与了记忆巩固，但由于在 REMs 期间实验性地分离神经活动极其困难，因此 REMs 在这一过程中的作用仍然存在争议。最近的工作结合电生理记录和光遗传学技术，首次证明了仅在 REMs 期间发生的神经活动对于空间和情景记忆的巩固是必需的。确定这些观察结果背后的潜在机制，以及它们如何在人类中转化，阐明 REMs 在其他记忆模式中的作用程度，这些都是未来研究的重要挑战，对人类健康具有重要意义。
