Interhemispheric competition during sleep

Lorenz A. Fenk (), Juan Luis Riquelme and Gilles Laurent ()
Additional contact information
Lorenz A. Fenk: Max Planck Institute for Brain Research
Juan Luis Riquelme: Max Planck Institute for Brain Research
Gilles Laurent: Max Planck Institute for Brain Research

Nature, 2023, vol. 616, issue 7956, 312-318

Abstract: Abstract Our understanding of the functions and mechanisms of sleep remains incomplete, reflecting their increasingly evident complexity1–3. Likewise, studies of interhemispheric coordination during sleep4–6 are often hard to connect precisely to known sleep circuits and mechanisms. Here, by recording from the claustra of sleeping bearded dragons (Pogona vitticeps), we show that, although the onsets and offsets of Pogona rapid-eye-movement (REMP) and slow-wave sleep are coordinated bilaterally, these two sleep states differ markedly in their inter-claustral coordination. During slow-wave sleep, the claustra produce sharp-wave ripples independently of one another, showing no coordination. By contrast, during REMP sleep, the potentials produced by the two claustra are precisely coordinated in amplitude and time. These signals, however, are not synchronous: one side leads the other by about 20 ms, with the leading side switching typically once per REMP episode or in between successive episodes. The leading claustrum expresses the stronger activity, suggesting bilateral competition. This competition does not occur directly between the two claustra or telencephalic hemispheres. Rather, it occurs in the midbrain and depends on the integrity of a GABAergic (γ-aminobutyric-acid-producing) nucleus of the isthmic complex, which exists in all vertebrates and is known in birds to underlie bottom-up attention and gaze control. These results reveal that a winner-take-all-type competition exists between the two sides of the brain of Pogona, which originates in the midbrain and has precise consequences for claustrum activity and coordination during REMP sleep.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-05827-w Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:616:y:2023:i:7956:d:10.1038_s41586-023-05827-w

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-05827-w

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().