title: Sleep, synaptic homeostasis and neuronal firing rates.
abstract: The synaptic homeostasis hypothesis (SHY) states that wake brings about a net overall increase in synaptic strength in many brain circuits that needs to be renormalized by sleep. I will review recent studies that were either specifically designed to test SHY or were interpreted accordingly, including several experiments that focused on changes in neuronal firing rates. I will emphasize that central to SHY is the idea that what is being regulated across the sleep/wake cycle is synaptic strength, not firing rate, and firing rate taken in isolation is not necessarily an adequate proxy for synaptic strength.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53719, USA. Electronic address: ccirelli@wisc.edu.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cirelli
mesh_terms: D006706:Homeostasis / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology*