Anatomical markers of sleep slow wave activity derived from structural magnetic resonance images

Sleep studies often observe differences in slow wave activity (SWA) during non‐rapid eye movement sleep between subjects. This study investigates to what extent these absolute differences in SWA can be explained with differences in grey matter volume, white matter volume or the thickness of skull and outer liquor rooms. To do this, we selected the 10‐min interval showing maximal SWA of 20 young adult subjects and correlated these values lobe‐wise with grey matter, skull and liquor thickness and globally with white matter as well as segments of the corpus callosum. Whereas grey matter, skull thickness and liquor did not correlate significantly with maximal slow wave activity, there were significant correlations with the anterior parts of the corpus callosum and with one other white matter region. In contrast, electroencephalogram power of higher frequencies correlates positively with grey matter volumes and cortical surface area. We discuss the possible role of white matter tracts on the synchronization of slow waves across the cortex.

[1]  F. Aboitiz,et al.  Long distance communication in the human brain: timing constraints for inter-hemispheric synchrony and the origin of brain lateralization. , 2003, Biological research.

[2]  H. Landolt.  Genotype-dependent differences in sleep, vigilance, and response to stimulants. , 2008, Current pharmaceutical design.

[3]  Christian Gaser,et al.  Gray and white matter reduction in hyposmic subjects — A voxel-based morphometry study , 2010, Brain Research.

[4]  I Tobler,et al.  Interhemispheric coherence of the sleep electroencephalogram in mice with congenital callosal dysgenesis , 2004, Neuroscience.

[5]  M Lassonde,et al.  Decreased interhemispheric EEG coherence during sleep in agenesis of the corpus callosum. , 1993, European neurology.

[6]  C Gabriel,et al.  The dielectric properties of biological tissues: I. Literature survey. , 1996, Physics in medicine and biology.

[7]  Thom F. Oostendorp,et al.  The conductivity of the human skull: results of in vivo and in vitro measurements , 2000, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

[8]  Sean L. Hill,et al.  The Sleep Slow Oscillation as a Traveling Wave , 2004, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[9]  G. Tononi,et al.  Local sleep and learning , 2004, Nature.

[10]  Anders M. Dale,et al.  Cortical Surface-Based Analysis I. Segmentation and Surface Reconstruction , 1999, NeuroImage.

[11]  H. Schulz,et al.  Phasic or transient? Comment on the terminology of the AASM manual for the scoring of sleep and associated events. , 2007, Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

[12]  M. Steriade,et al.  A novel slow (< 1 Hz) oscillation of neocortical neurons in vivo: depolarizing and hyperpolarizing components , 1993, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[13]  A. Chesson,et al.  The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) Manual for the Scoring of Sleep and Associated Events: Rules, Terminology and Technical Specifications , 2007 .

[14]  M Steriade,et al.  Electrophysiological correlates of sleep delta waves. , 1998, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[15]  W. Singer,et al.  Dynamic predictions: Oscillations and synchrony in top–down processing , 2001, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[16]  P. Rakic.  A small step for the cell, a giant leap for mankind: a hypothesis of neocortical expansion during evolution , 1995, Trends in Neurosciences.

[17]  P. V. van Rijen,et al.  Measurement of the Conductivity of Skull, Temporarily Removed During Epilepsy Surgery , 2004, Brain Topography.

[18]  H. Landolt,et al.  A functional genetic variation of adenosine deaminase affects the duration and intensity of deep sleep in humans , 2005, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[19]  D. Dijk,et al.  Effect of unilateral somatosensory stimulation prior to sleep on the sleep EEG in humans , 1994, Journal of sleep research.

[20]  M. Knyazeva,et al.  The EEG in acallosal children. Coherence values in the resting state: left hemisphere compensatory mechanism? , 1995, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[21]  Peter Achermann,et al.  Individual ‘Fingerprints’ in Human Sleep EEG Topography , 2001, Neuropsychopharmacology.

[22]  P. Achermann,et al.  Mathematical models of sleep regulation. , 2003, Frontiers in bioscience : a journal and virtual library.

[23]  R. Huber,et al.  EEG sleep slow-wave activity as a mirror of cortical maturation. , 2011, Cerebral cortex.

[24]  Karl J. Friston,et al.  Voxel-Based Morphometry—The Methods , 2000, NeuroImage.

[25]  A. Dale,et al.  Cortical Surface-Based Analysis II: Inflation, Flattening, and a Surface-Based Coordinate System , 1999, NeuroImage.

[26]  John Ashburner,et al.  A fast diffeomorphic image registration algorithm , 2007, NeuroImage.

[27]  G. Tononi,et al.  Sleep and synaptic homeostasis: a hypothesis , 2003, Brain Research Bulletin.

[28]  G. Tononi,et al.  Cortical Firing and Sleep Homeostasis , 2009, Neuron.

[29]  Irwin Feinberg,et al.  Longitudinal trajectories of non-rapid eye movement delta and theta EEG as indicators of adolescent brain maturation , 2009, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[30]  Wolf Singer,et al.  Neuronal Synchrony: A Versatile Code for the Definition of Relations? , 1999, Neuron.

[31]  A. Borbély.  A two process model of sleep regulation. , 1982, Human neurobiology.

[32]  T. Nielsen,et al.  Interhemispheric EEG Coherence before and after Partial Callosotomy , 1990, Clinical EEG.

[33]  L Hartshorn,et al.  The dielectric properties of mica , 1924 .

[34]  J. Vos,et al.  Coherence patterns of the infant sleep EEG in absence of the corpus callosum. , 1987, Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology.

[35]  P. Achermann,et al.  Coherence analysis of the human sleep electroencephalogram , 1998, Neuroscience.

[36]  Peter Achermann,et al.  Temporal evolution of coherence and power in the human sleep electroencephalogram , 1998, Journal of sleep research.

[37]  R. Rust,et al.  Mathematical models of service , 1996 .

[38]  S. F. Witelson.  Hand and sex differences in the isthmus and genu of the human corpus callosum. A postmortem morphological study. , 1989, Brain : a journal of neurology.