title: Human brain activity time-locked to rapid eye movements during REM sleep.
abstract: To identify the neural substrate of rapid eye movements (REMs) during REM sleep in humans, we conducted simultaneous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and polysomnographic recording during REM sleep. Event-related fMRI analysis time-locked to the occurrence of REMs revealed that the pontine tegmentum, ventroposterior thalamus, primary visual cortex, putamen and limbic areas (the anterior cingulate, parahippocampal gyrus and amygdala) were activated in association with REMs. A control experiment during which subjects made self-paced saccades in total darkness showed no activation in the visual cortex. The REM-related activation of the primary visual cortex without visual input from the retina provides neural evidence for the existence of human ponto-geniculo-occipital waves (PGO waves) and a link between REMs and dreaming. Furthermore, the time-course analysis of blood oxygenation level-dependent responses indicated that the activation of the pontine tegmentum, ventroposterior thalamus and primary visual cortex started before the occurrence of REMs. On the other hand, the activation of the putamen and limbic areas accompanied REMs. The activation of the parahippocampal gyrus and amygdala simultaneously with REMs suggests that REMs and/or their generating mechanism are not merely an epiphenomenon of PGO waves, but may be linked to the triggering activation of these areas.
authors.affiliation: Kobe Advanced ICT Research Center, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), 588-2 Iwaoka, Iwaoka-cho, Nishi-ku, Kobe, Hyogo, 651-2492, Japan. miyauchi@po.nict.go.jp
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Miyauchi
authors.forename: Masaya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Misaki
authors.forename: Shigeyuki
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kan
authors.forename: Takahide
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fukunaga
authors.forename: Takahiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Koike
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D017286:Polysomnography; D012895:Sleep, REM / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult