Wide-spread brain activation and reduced CSF flow during avian REM sleep
- Mammalian sleep has been implicated in maintaining a healthy extracellular environment in the brain. During wakefulness, neuronal activity leads to the accumulation of toxic proteins, which the glymphatic system is thought to clear by flushing cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) through the brain. In mice, this process occurs during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. In humans, ventricular CSF flow has also been shown to increase during NREM sleep, as visualized using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The link between sleep and CSF flow has not been studied in birds before. Using fMRI of naturally sleeping pigeons, we show that REM sleep, a paradoxical state with wake-like brain activity, is accompanied by the activation of brain regions involved in processing visual information, including optic flow during flight. We further demonstrate that ventricular CSF flow increases during NREM sleep, relative to wakefulness, but drops sharply during REM sleep. Consequently, functions linked to brain activation during REM sleep might come at the expense of waste clearance during NREM sleep.
| Author: | Gianina UngureanORCiDGND, Mehdi BehrooziORCiDGND, Leonard BögerGND, Xavier HelluyGND, Paul-Antoine LibourelORCiDGND, Onur GüntürkünORCiDGND, Niels C. RattenborgGND |
|---|---|
| URN: | urn:nbn:de:hbz:294-108088 |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38669-1 |
| Parent Title (English): | Nature communications |
| Publisher: | Nature Publishing Group UK |
| Place of publication: | London |
| Document Type: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Date of Publication (online): | 2024/02/09 |
| Date of first Publication: | 2023/06/05 |
| Publishing Institution: | Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsbibliothek |
| Tag: | Open Access Fonds |
| Volume: | 14 |
| Issue: | Article 3259 |
| First Page: | 3259-1 |
| Last Page: | 3259-12 |
| Note: | Article Processing Charge funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and the Open Access Publication Fund of Ruhr-Universität Bochum. |
| Institutes/Facilities: | Institut für Kognitive Neurowissenschaft, Abteilung Biopsychologie |
| Dewey Decimal Classification: | Philosophie und Psychologie / Psychologie |
| open_access (DINI-Set): | open_access |
| faculties: | Fakultät für Psychologie |
| Licence (English): |  Creative Commons - CC BY 4.0 - Attribution 4.0 International |
