Regional cerebral glucose metabolism in man during wakefulness, sleep, and dreaming.
Regional cerebral glucose metabolism was measured by positron emission tomography in 4 healthy male volunteers, both during wakefulness and sleep, using the 2-deoxy-D-[2-18F]glucose method. While 3 of the subjects did not report dreaming and, during sleep stages I-IV of variable duration, exhibited a non-selective decrease in metabolic rates averaging 12.6 +/- 4.73% (mean +/- S.D.) for the entire brain, the fourth volunteer who experienced an extended nightmare during his sleep examination showed a generalized increase in cerebral glucose utilization ranging from 2.1% in lentiform nucleus to 30.0% in the superior frontal cortex, with a weighted whole brain average of 16.4%. These findings suggest that energy metabolism in the human brain is generally depressed during slow-wave sleep as opposed to a--possibly differential--activation during dreaming.
D000328:Adult; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism*; D003847:Deoxyglucose / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D004325:Dreams / Q000502:physiology*; D005461:Fluorine; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011868:Radioisotopes; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000502:physiology*
D001786:Blood Glucose; D011868:Radioisotopes; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D005461:Fluorine; D003847:Deoxyglucose; D005947:Glucose