Old Brains Come Uncoupled in Sleep: Slow Wave-Spindle Synchrony, Brain Atrophy, and Forgetting
- PMID: 29249289
- PMCID: PMC5754239
- DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2017.11.020
Old Brains Come Uncoupled in Sleep: Slow Wave-Spindle Synchrony, Brain Atrophy, and Forgetting
Abstract
The coupled interaction between slow-wave oscillations and sleep spindles during non-rapid-eye-movement (NREM) sleep has been proposed to support memory consolidation. However, little evidence in humans supports this theory. Moreover, whether such dynamic coupling is impaired as a consequence of brain aging in later life, contributing to cognitive and memory decline, is unknown. Combining electroencephalography (EEG), structural MRI, and sleep-dependent memory assessment, we addressed these questions in cognitively normal young and older adults. Directional cross-frequency coupling analyses demonstrated that the slow wave governs a precise temporal coordination of sleep spindles, the quality of which predicts overnight memory retention. Moreover, selective atrophy within the medial frontal cortex in older adults predicted a temporal dispersion of this slow wave-spindle coupling, impairing overnight memory consolidation and leading to forgetting. Prefrontal-dependent deficits in the spatiotemporal coordination of NREM sleep oscillations therefore represent one pathway explaining age-related memory decline.
Keywords: age-related memory decline; aging; atrophy; directional cross-frequency coupling; hierarchical nesting; hippocampus-dependent memory consolidation; overnight forgetting; prefrontal cortex; sleep spindles; slow oscillation.
Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Comment in
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Phase-Amplitude Coupling: A General Mechanism for Memory Processing and Synaptic Plasticity?Neuron. 2018 Jan 3;97(1):10-13. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2017.12.023. Neuron. 2018. PMID: 29301097
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