Neuronal models for sleep-wake regulation and synaptic reorganization in the sleeping hippocampus.
In this article, we discuss mathematical models that address the control of sleep-wake behavior in the infant and adult rodent and a model that addresses changes in single-cell firing patterns in the hippocampus across wake and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep states. Each of the models describes the dynamics of experimentally identified neuronal components--either the firing activity of wake-and sleep-promoting neuronal populations or the spiking activity of hippocampal pyramidal neurons. Our discussion of each model illustrates how a mathematical model that describes the temporal dynamics of the modeled neuronal components can reveal specifics about proposed neuronal mechanisms that underlie sleep-wake regulation or sleep-specific firing patterns. For example, the dynamics of the models developed for sleep-wake regulation in the infant rodent lend insight into the involved brain-stem neuronal populations and the evolution of the network during maturation. The results of the model for sleep-wake regulation in the adult rodent suggest distinct properties of the involved neuronal populations and their interactions that account for long-lasting and brief waking bouts. The dynamics of the model for sleep-specific hippocampal neural activity proposes neural mechanisms to account for observed activity changes that can invoke synaptic reorganization associated with learning and memory consolidation.
Best
Janet
J
Department of Mathematics and Mathematical Biosciences Institute, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
Diniz Behn
Cecilia
C
Poe
Gina R
GR
Booth
Victoria
V
D000200:Action Potentials; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology*; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000502:physiology*