A Study on Gender and Age Differences in Sleep Spindles

Huupponen, Eero; Himanen, Sari-Leena; Värri, Alpo; Hasan, Joel; Lehtokangas, Mikko; Saarinen, Jukka

doi:10.1159/000048684

Cited by 57 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…In addition, the only two published studies that investigated the interaction between sex steroid levels and sleep-related memory consolidation in women, only focused on spindle activity (Genzel et al, 2012;Genzel et al, 2015). Unlike the present study, prior results report increased spindles in females compared with males (Huupponen et al, 2002, Carrier et al, 2001. It is unclear whether these sex differences in spindle activity relate to meaningful functional differences or whether they are simply an artifact from differences in skull thickness that amplifies the detection of spindles in women (cite check Dijk et al, 1988).…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 82%

The effect of sex and menstrual phase on memory formation during a nap

Sattari

McDevitt

Panas

et al. 2017

Neurobiology of Learning and Memory

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Memory formation can be influenced by sleep and sex hormones in both men and women, and by the menstrual cycle in women. Though many studies have shown that sleep benefits the consolidation of memories, it is not clear whether this effect differs between men and women in general or according to menstrual phase in women. The present study investigated the effect of sex and menstrual cycle on memory consolidation of face-name associations (FNA) following a daytime nap. Recognition memory was tested using a face-name paired associates task with a polysomnographic nap between morning and evening testing. Seventeen healthy women (age: 20.75 (1.98) years) were studied at two time points of their menstrual cycles, defined from self-report and separated by 2 weeks (perimenses: -5 days to + 6 days from the start of menses, and non-perimenses: outside of the perimenses phase) and compared with eighteen healthy men (age: 22.01 (2.91) years). Regardless of menstrual phase, women had better pre-nap performance than men. Further, menstrual phase affected post-nap memory consolidation, with women showing greater forgetting in their perimenses phase compared with their nonperimenses phase, and men. Interestingly, post-nap performance correlated with electrophysiological events during sleep (slow oscillations, spindles, and temporal coupling between the two), however, these correlations differed according to menstrual phase and sex.Men's performance improvement was associated with the temporal coupling of spindles and slow oscillations (i.e., spindle/SO coincidence) as well as spindles. Women, however, showed an association with slow oscillations during non-perimenses, whereas when they were in their perimenses phase of their cycle, women appeared to show an association only with sleep spindle events for consolidation. These findings add to the growing literature demonstrating sex and menstrual phase effects on memory formation during sleep. THE EFFECT OF SEX AND MENSTRUAL CYCLE ON MEMORY 3

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 82%

The effect of sex and menstrual phase on memory formation during a nap

Sattari

McDevitt

Panas

et al. 2017

Neurobiology of Learning and Memory

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“…With respect to spontaneous electromagnetic activity, higher percentage of left-frontal sleep spindles (Huupponen et al, 2002) or less pronounced long-range temporal correlations between occipito-parietal and frontal EEG-alpha generators were reported for females relative to males (Nikulin and Brismar, 2005) (in both reports, gender effects were independent of age).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Abnormal slow wave mapping (ASWAM)—A tool for the investigation of abnormal slow wave activity in the human brain

Wienbruch¹

2007

Journal of Neuroscience Methods

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Slow waves in the delta and theta frequency range, normal signs of deactivated networks in sleep stages, are considered 'abnormal' when prominent in the waking state and when generated in circumscribed brain areas. Structural cortical lesions, e.g. related to stroke, tumors, or scars, generate focal electric and magnetic slow wave activity in the penumbra. Focal concentrations of slow wave activity exceeding those of healthy subjects have also been found in individuals suffering from psychiatric disorders without obvious structural brain damage. Hence, identification and mapping of abnormal slow wave activity might contribute to the investigation of cortical indications of psychopathology.Here I propose a method for abnormal slow wave mapping (ASWAM), based on a 5 min resting magnetoencephalogramm (MEG) and equivalent current dipole fitting to sources in the 1-4 Hz frequency band (delta) in anatomically defined cortical regions. The method was tested in a sample of 116 healthy subjects (59 males), with the aim to provide a basis for later comparison with patient samples. As to be expected, delta dipole density was low in healthy subjects. However, its distribution differed between genders with fronto-central > posterior dipole density in male and posterior dominance in female participants, which was not significantly related to either age or headsize. Results suggest that this method allows the identification of ASWA, so that comparison against Z-scores from a larger normal control group might assist diagnostic purposes in patient groups. As specific distributions seem to reflect differences between genders, this should be considered also in the analysis of patient samples.

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“…Also in humans, a larger number of sleep spindles in females has been reported (40). The higher level of sigma activity during baseline in WT females might underlie the absence of its further increase immediately after SD (the ''ceiling'' effect).…”

Section: Npas2 Affects Eeg Oscillations During Nremsmentioning

confidence: 95%

NPAS2 as a transcriptional regulator of non-rapid eye movement sleep: Genotype and sex interactions

Franken

Dudley

Estill

et al. 2006

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

180

169

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Because the transcription factor neuronal Per-Arnt-Sim-type signal-sensor protein-domain protein 2 (NPAS2) acts both as a sensor and an effector of intracellular energy balance, and because sleep is thought to correct an energy imbalance incurred during waking, we examined NPAS2's role in sleep homeostasis using npas2 knockout (npas2 ؊/؊ ) mice. We found that, under conditions of increased sleep need, i.e., at the end of the active period or after sleep deprivation (SD), NPAS2 allows for sleep to occur at times when mice are normally awake. Lack of npas2 affected electroencephalogram activity of thalamocortical origin; during non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREMS), activity in the spindle range (10 -15 Hz) was reduced, and within the delta range (1-4 Hz), activity shifted toward faster frequencies. In addition, the increase in the cortical expression of the NPAS2 target gene period2 (per2) after SD was attenuated in npas2 ؊/؊ mice. This implies that NPAS2 importantly contributes to the previously documented wake-dependent increase in cortical per2 expression. The data also revealed numerous sex differences in sleep; in females, sleep need accumulated at a slower rate, and REMS loss was not recovered after SD. In contrast, the rebound in NREMS time after SD was compromised only in npas2 ؊/؊ males. We conclude that NPAS2 plays a role in sleep homeostasis, most likely at the level of the thalamus and cortex, where NPAS2 is abundantly expressed.circadian ͉ clock genes ͉ metabolism ͉ sleep homeostasis N euronal Per-Arnt-Sim-type signal-sensor protein (PAS)-domain protein 2 (NPAS2) is a transcription factor that is highly expressed in the CNS (1). Many PAS-domain proteins can sense oxygen, redox, voltage, or light and are implicated in environmental and developmental signaling pathways (2). NPAS2 senses cellular energy state, in that both the dimerization of NPAS2 to its obligatory partner brain and muscle arnt-like 1 (BMAL1) and the specific DNA binding of NPAS2:BMAL1 heterodimers depend on intracellular redox potential (3). NPAS2 can also affect cellular metabolism by activating transcription of lactate dehydrogenase-1 (ldh1), which encodes the LDH subunit A (3). LDH catalyzes the reduction of pyruvate to lactate, an important neuronal energy substrate. NPAS2 thus uniquely combines sensor and effector functions and might be an important regulator of cellular metabolism in the CNS.Sleep is governed by both circadian and homeostatic processes (4). The notion of the homeostatic regulation of sleep is based on the observation that sleep loss is compensated by an increase in sleep time and intensity that is proportional to the sleep time lost. Such observations indicate that a need for sleep accumulates during waking, although the nature of this need, i.e., the neurophysiological function of sleep, remains unknown. One prominent hypothesis states that sleep corrects a metabolic imbalance imposed upon the brain during wakefulness (5). This imbalance is thought to result in increased hyperpolarization of thalamocortical and ...

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A Study on Gender and Age Differences in Sleep Spindles

Cited by 57 publications

References 16 publications

The effect of sex and menstrual phase on memory formation during a nap

The effect of sex and menstrual phase on memory formation during a nap

Abnormal slow wave mapping (ASWAM)—A tool for the investigation of abnormal slow wave activity in the human brain

NPAS2 as a transcriptional regulator of non-rapid eye movement sleep: Genotype and sex interactions

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