Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Neural Plast. 2017;2017:6160959. doi: 10.1155/2017/6160959. Epub 2017 Aug 15.
Although quantitative analysis of the sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) has uncovered important aspects of brain activity during sleep in adolescents and adults, similar findings from preschool-age children remain scarce. This study utilized our time-frequency method to examine sleep oscillations as characteristic features of human sleep EEG. Data were collected from a longitudinal sample of young children ( = 8; 3 males) at ages 2, 3, and 5 years. Following sleep stage scoring, we detected and characterized oscillatory events across age and examined how their features corresponded to spectral changes in the sleep EEG. Results indicated a developmental decrease in the incidence of delta and theta oscillations. Spindle oscillations, however, were almost absent at 2 years but pronounced at 5 years. All oscillatory event changes were stronger during light sleep than slow-wave sleep. Large interindividual differences in sleep oscillations and their characteristics (e.g., "ultrafast" spindle-like oscillations, theta oscillation incidence/frequency) also existed. Changes in delta and spindle oscillations across early childhood may indicate early maturation of the thalamocortical system. Our analytic approach holds promise for revealing novel types of sleep oscillatory events that are specific to periods of rapid normal development across the lifespan and during other times of aberrant changes in neurobehavioral function.
尽管对睡眠脑电图 (EEG) 的定量分析揭示了青少年和成年人睡眠期间大脑活动的重要方面，但来自学龄前儿童的类似发现仍然很少。本研究利用我们的时频方法来检查睡眠振荡作为人类睡眠 EEG 的特征。该数据来自于一个纵向的幼儿样本（n=8；男 3 名），年龄在 2、3 和 5 岁。在睡眠阶段评分之后，我们在整个年龄段检测并描述了振荡事件，并检查了它们的特征如何与睡眠 EEG 的频谱变化相对应。结果表明，delta 和 theta 振荡的发生率随年龄增长而降低。然而，纺锤波振荡在 2 岁时几乎不存在，但在 5 岁时很明显。所有振荡事件的变化在浅睡时比在慢波睡眠时更强。睡眠振荡及其特征（例如，“超快”纺锤波样振荡、theta 振荡发生率/频率）也存在很大的个体间差异。幼儿期 delta 和纺锤波振荡的变化可能表明丘脑皮质系统的早期成熟。我们的分析方法有望揭示特定于生命各阶段快速正常发育和神经行为功能异常变化时期的新型睡眠振荡事件。
