Thalamic Circuit Mechanisms Link Sensory Processing in Sleep and Attention
Name
Chen-2016-Thalamic Circuit.pdf
Size
1.76 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
ae5e4d745bc1b8343aa6ab6ee3d4a32e
Author(s)
Chen, Zhe
Wimmer, Ralf D.
Wilson, Matthew A.
Halassa, Michael M.
Date Issued
January 2016
Journal
Frontiers in Neural Circuits
Publisher
Frontiers Research Foundation
Citation
Chen, Zhe, Ralf D. Wimmer, Matthew A. Wilson, and Michael M. Halassa. “Thalamic Circuit Mechanisms Link Sensory Processing in Sleep and Attention.” Front. Neural Circuits 9 (January 5, 2016).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The correlation between sleep integrity and attentional performance is normally interpreted as poor sleep causing impaired attention. Here, we provide an alternative explanation for this correlation: common thalamic circuits regulate sensory processing across sleep and attention, and their disruption may lead to correlated dysfunction. Using multi-electrode recordings in mice, we find that rate and rhythmicity of thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN) neurons are predictive of their functional organization in sleep and suggestive of their participation in sensory processing across states. Surprisingly, TRN neurons associated with spindles in sleep are also associated with alpha oscillations during attention. As such, we propose that common thalamic circuit principles regulate sensory processing in a state-invariant manner and that in certain disorders, targeting these circuits may be a more viable therapeutic strategy than considering individual states in isolation.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Picower Institute for Learning and Memory
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.3389/fncir.2015.00083
