Intracortical inhibition and facilitation upon awakening from different sleep stages: a transcranial magnetic stimulation study

Intracortical facilitation and inhibition, as assessed by the paired‐pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation technique with a subthreshold conditioning pulse followed by a suprathreshold test pulse, was studied upon awakening from REM and slow‐wave sleep (SWS). Ten normal subjects were studied for f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The European journal of neuroscience 2004-06, Vol.19 (11), p.3099-3104
Main Authors: De Gennaro, Luigi, Bertini, Mario, Ferrara, Michele, Curcio, Giuseppe, Cristiani, Riccardo, Romei, Vincenzo, Fratello, Fabiana, Pauri, Flavia, Rossini, Paolo Maria
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Analysis of Variance
Electric Stimulation - methods
Female
Humans
Inhibition (Psychology)
intracortical facilitation
intracortical inhibition
paired-pulse technique
Polysomnography - methods
Reaction Time - drug effects
REM sleep
Sensory Thresholds - physiology
Sleep Stages - physiology
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)
Wakefulness - physiology
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Summary:Intracortical facilitation and inhibition, as assessed by the paired‐pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation technique with a subthreshold conditioning pulse followed by a suprathreshold test pulse, was studied upon awakening from REM and slow‐wave sleep (SWS). Ten normal subjects were studied for four consecutive nights. Intracortical facilitation and inhibition were assessed upon awakening from SWS and REM sleep, and during a presleep baseline. Independently of sleep stage at awakening, intracortical inhibition was found at 1–3‐ms interstimulus intervals and facilitation at 7–15‐ms interstimulus intervals. Motor thresholds were higher in SWS awakenings, with no differences between REM awakenings and wakefulness, while motor evoked potential amplitude to unconditioned stimuli decreased upon REM awakening as compared to the other conditions. REM sleep awakenings showed a significant increase of intracortical facilitation at 10 and 15 ms, while intracortical inhibition was not affected by sleep stage at awakening. While the dissociation between motor thresholds and motor evoked potential amplitudes could be explained by the different excitability of the corticospinal system during SWS and REM sleep, the heightened cortical facilitation upon awakening from REM sleep points to a cortical motor activation during this stage.
ISSN:0953-816X
1460-9568
DOI:10.1111/j.0953-816X.2004.03411.x