Sleep and the functional connectome

• Published in: NeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.) Vol. 80; pp. 387 - 396
• Main Authors: Picchioni, Dante, Duyn, Jeff H., Horovitz, Silvina G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 15-10-2013; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Animals; Arousal; Arousal - physiology; Behavior; Brain - physiology; Brain research; Connectivity; Connectome - methods; Consciousness; Consciousness - physiology; Electroencephalography; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Memory; Models, Anatomic; Models, Neurological; Nerve Net - physiology; Rodents; Sleep; Sleep - physiology; Studies; Connectivity; Sleep; Consciousness; Memory; Arousal
• ISSN: 1053-8119; 1095-9572
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.05.067

Sleep and the functional connectome are research areas with considerable overlap. Neuroimaging studies of sleep based on EEG–PET and EEG–fMRI are revealing the brain networks that support sleep, as well as networks that may support the roles and processes attributed to sleep. For example, phenomena such as arousal and consciousness are substantially modulated during sleep, and one would expect this modulation to be reflected in altered network activity. In addition, recent work suggests that sleep also has a number of adaptive functions that support waking activity. Thus the study of sleep may elucidate the circuits and processes that support waking function and complement information obtained from fMRI during waking conditions. In this review, we will discuss examples of this for memory, arousal, and consciousness after providing a brief background on sleep and on studying it with fMRI.
•Sleep has a number of adaptive functions that support waking activity•EEG–fMRI studies reveal brain networks that support sleep•Arousal and consciousness modulations by sleep are reflected in network connectivity•fMRI during sleep allows the study of the hippocampal role in memory consolidation