Experience and sleep-dependent synaptic plasticity: from structure to activity

Synaptic plasticity is important for learning and memory. With increasing evidence linking sleep states to changes in synaptic strength, an emerging view is that sleep promotes learning and memory by facilitating experience-induced synaptic plasticity. In this review, we summarize the recent progres...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological sciences Vol. 375; no. 1799; p. 20190234
Main Authors Sun, Linlin, Zhou, Hang, Cichon, Joseph, Yang, Guang
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England The Royal Society 25.05.2020
Subjects
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

Loading…
More Information
Summary:Synaptic plasticity is important for learning and memory. With increasing evidence linking sleep states to changes in synaptic strength, an emerging view is that sleep promotes learning and memory by facilitating experience-induced synaptic plasticity. In this review, we summarize the recent progress on the function of sleep in regulating cortical synaptic plasticity. Specifically, we outline the electroencephalogram signatures of sleep states (e.g. slow-wave sleep, rapid eye movement sleep, spindles), sleep state-dependent changes in gene and synaptic protein expression, synaptic morphology, and neuronal and network activity. We highlight studies showing that post-experience sleep potentiates experience-induced synaptic changes and discuss the potential mechanisms that may link sleep-related brain activity to synaptic structural remodelling. We conclude that both synapse formation or strengthening and elimination or weakening occur across sleep. This sleep-dependent synaptic plasticity plays an important role in neuronal circuit refinement during development and after learning, while sleep disorders may contribute to or exacerbate the development of common neurological diseases. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue 'Memory reactivation: replaying events past, present and future'.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-3
content type line 23
ObjectType-Review-1
One contribution of 18 to a Theo Murphy meeting issue ‘Memory reactivation: replaying events past, present and future’.
ISSN:0962-8436
1471-2970
DOI:10.1098/rstb.2019.0234