Sleep EEG dynamics in rat barrel cortex associated with sensory deprivation

Sleep is involved in the development and maintenance of neural networks. We investigated how somatosensory deprivation affects EEG dynamics of adult rats during sleep, which might be a result of changes in neural organization. Rats' whiskers were clipped unilaterally daily and the resulting changes in the balance of EEG spectral powers between the intact and sensory deprived barrel cortices were recorded for a month. Both delta and theta band spectral powers in the deprived cortex initially decreased in terms of their ratio to the intact cortex. Subsequently, the ratio was restored to control levels. This non-monotonic change in EEG activity might reflect the re-organization process of the cortical circuit.