Summary
The paired shock technique was used to study the effect of sleep on the excitability of the short latency R1 and long latency R2 components of the electrically elicited blink reflex. During wakefulness, R1 returned, after transient potentiation, to its original level in about 150 ms following the conditioning stimulus. Contrastingly, R2 remained profoundly suppressed up to 800 ms, suggesting sustained reduction of excitability of the polysynaptic reflex pathways after the passage of a preceeding impulse. During non-REM and REM sleep, the recovery curve of R1 was similar in character, although different in time course to the one obtained during wakefulness. However, R2 was potentiated rather than suppressed by the conditioning stimulus during both phases of sleep. These findings indicate that, during sleep, the polysynaptic reflex pathways are not inhibited by a preceeding impulse to the same degree as in wakefulness.
Zusammenfassung
Der Einfluß des Schlafes auf die R1-Komponente mit kurzer Latenz und die R2-Komponente mit langer Latenz des elektrisch ausgelösten Blinkreflexes wurde mit Hilfe einer Doppelreiztechnik untersucht. Im Wachzustand erreichte die R1-Komponente nach einer vorübergehenden Potenzierung ihren Ausgangswert innerhalb von 150 ms nach dem Erst („Conditioning“)-Reiz. Im Gegensatz dazu blieb die R2-Komponente bis zu 800 ms nach dem Erstreiz merklich unterdrückt. Folglich kann angenommen werden, daß die Erregbarkeit polysynaptischer Reflexbahnen nach einem Erstreiz beträchtlich vermindert bleibt. Im Nicht-REM- und REM-Schlaf war die Erregbarkeitskurve der R1-Komponente ähnlich dem Wachzustand, unterschiedlich nur in ihrem zeitlichen Verlauf. In beiden Schlafstadien jedoch wurde die R2-Komponente durch den Erstreiz potenziert und nicht vermindert. Diese Beobachtungen zeigen, daß polysynaptische Reflexbahnen von einem Erstreiz im Schlaf nicht im gleichen Ausmaß wie im Wachzustand unterdrückt werden.
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The Neurosensory Center is supported by Program Project Grant Number NS-03354 of the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke. This investigation was supported in part by a grant from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
A part of this study was done when the authors were associated with the Department of Internal Medicine (Neurology), Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba.
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Kimura, J., Harada, O. Recovery curves of the blink reflex during wakefulness and sleep. J. Neurol. 213, 189–198 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00312869
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00312869