Adjusting brain waves during sleep can enhance memory
July 18, 2017 Source: Health News
Window._bd_share_config={ "common":{ "bdSnsKey":{ },"bdText":"","bdMini":"2","bdMiniList":false,"bdPic":"","bdStyle":" 0","bdSize":"16"},"share":{ }};with(document)0[(getElementsByTagName('head')[0]||body).appendChild(createElement('script')) .src='http://bdimg.share.baidu.com/static/api/js/share.js?v=89860593.js?cdnversion='+~(-new Date()/36e5)];An international research team has found that adjusting the number of specific brain waves in the thalamus during sleep in an experimental mouse can enhance or weaken memory. This helps to understand the relationship between sleep and the process of long-term memory formation, and patients with insufficient memory may benefit.
The result was obtained in collaboration with researchers from the Korea Institute of Basic Sciences and the University of Tübingen in Germany. The paper was published in the new issue of the American Journal of Neurons.
Like humans, the sleep of experimental rats is divided into two states: fast wave and slow wave. Slow wave sleep is related to the finishing and curing of memory. During the slow-wave sleep phase, neurons in different parts of the brain produce three kinds of brain waves, forming a "trio" of slow oscillations, spindle waves, and chopping. The focus of this new study is the spindle wave.
The spindle wave is generated by the reticular nucleus of the thalamus, and a peak appears approximately every 7 to 15 seconds. Previous studies have found that the number of spindle waves is related to memory. If there is a lot of learning during the day, the number of spindle waves will be more when sleeping at night; the number of spindle waves in elderly and schizophrenia patients is small.
The researchers placed the rats in cages and then shocked them, giving them a sense of fear in the cage. The rats were then divided into 3 groups and subjected to sleep experiments. The researchers used optogenetic techniques to stimulate the thalamus of the first group of experimental rats, artificially increasing the number of spindle waves, and the rhythm coincided with the original brain wave. The second group is also stimulated by light, but the rhythm is chaotic. The third group was the control group and did not receive any stimulation.
The next day, the rats were returned to the original cage. The first group was 40% scared to move, and the second and third groups only responded 20% of the time. This shows that the rhythmic artificial spindle wave enhances the memory of the experimental mouse, and if the number of spindle waves is artificially reduced, the memory of the experimental mouse will be weakened.
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