Department of Defense Biotechnology High Performance Computing Software Applications Institute, Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, United States Army Medical Research and Development Command, Fort Detrick, MD.
The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., Bethesda, MD.
Sleep. 2020 Oct 13;43(10). doi: 10.1093/sleep/zsaa064.
Sleep disturbances are core symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but reliable sleep markers of PTSD have yet to be identified. Sleep spindles are important brain waves associated with sleep protection and sleep-dependent memory consolidation. The present study tested whether sleep spindles are altered in individuals with PTSD and whether the findings are reproducible across nights and subsamples of the study.
Seventy-eight combat-exposed veteran men with (n = 31) and without (n = 47) PTSD completed two consecutive nights of high-density EEG recordings in a laboratory. We identified slow (10-13 Hz) and fast (13-16 Hz) sleep spindles during N2 and N3 sleep stages and performed topographical analyses of spindle parameters (amplitude, duration, oscillatory frequency, and density) on both nights. To assess reproducibility, we used the first 47 consecutive participants (18 with PTSD) for initial discovery and the remaining 31 participants (13 with PTSD) for replication assessment.
In the discovery analysis, compared to non-PTSD participants, PTSD participants exhibited (1) higher slow-spindle oscillatory frequency over the antero-frontal regions on both nights and (2) higher fast-spindle oscillatory frequency over the centro-parietal regions on the second night. The first finding was preserved in the replication analysis. We found no significant group differences in the amplitude, duration, or density of slow or fast spindles.
The elevated spindle oscillatory frequency in PTSD may indicate a deficient sensory-gating mechanism responsible for preserving sleep continuity. Our findings, if independently validated, may assist in the development of sleep-focused PTSD diagnostics and interventions.
睡眠障碍是创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）的核心症状，但可靠的 PTSD 睡眠标志物尚未确定。睡眠梭形波是与睡眠保护和睡眠依赖的记忆巩固相关的重要脑波。本研究测试了 PTSD 个体的睡眠梭形波是否发生改变，以及这些发现是否在数晚和研究的子样本中具有可重复性。
78 名经历过战斗的男性退伍军人，其中 PTSD 患者 31 人，非 PTSD 患者 47 人，在实验室中连续两晚完成高密度 EEG 记录。我们在 N2 和 N3 睡眠阶段识别出慢（10-13Hz）和快（13-16Hz）睡眠梭形波，并对两晚的梭形波参数（振幅、持续时间、振荡频率和密度）进行拓扑分析。为了评估可重复性，我们使用前 47 名连续参与者（18 名 PTSD 患者）进行初步发现，其余 31 名参与者（13 名 PTSD 患者）进行复制评估。
在发现分析中，与非 PTSD 参与者相比，PTSD 参与者表现出：（1）在两晚的额前区域，慢梭形波的振荡频率较高；（2）在第二晚的中央顶区，快梭形波的振荡频率较高。第一个发现在复制分析中得到了保留。我们没有发现慢或快梭形波的振幅、持续时间或密度存在显著的组间差异。
PTSD 中梭形波的振荡频率升高可能表明存在感觉门控机制缺陷，负责维持睡眠连续性。如果这些发现得到独立验证，它们可能有助于开发以睡眠为重点的 PTSD 诊断和干预措施。
