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Recording Gamma Band Oscillations in Pedunculopontine Nucleus Neurons

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Trigeminal induced arousals during human sleep.

Clemens Heiser¹, Jan Baja, Franziska Lenz

¹Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospital Mannheim, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, 68167, Mannheim, Germany, hno@heiser-online.com.

Sleep & Breathing = Schlaf & Atmung

|August 14, 2014

Summary

External stimuli like nasal trigeminal stimulation during sleep increase arousal frequency. This study found that both stimulus concentration and duration significantly influence sleep arousals across different sleep stages.

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Area of Science:

Sleep research
Neuroscience
Sensory systems

Background:

Arousals during sleep can be triggered by external stimuli affecting various sensory systems.
Nasal trigeminal nerve stimulation has been shown to induce arousals.
Arousal frequency correlates with stimulus concentration.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the impact of varying trigeminal stimulus durations on arousal frequency.
To analyze these effects across different sleep stages (light, deep, REM).

Main Methods:

Ten healthy young volunteers underwent 20 nights of polysomnography.
Nasal trigeminal stimulation was delivered using an olfactometer with varying CO2 concentrations (0-40%) and durations (1-10 seconds).
Stimuli were applied during light sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep.

Main Results:

Arousal frequency increased with higher stimulus concentrations.
Arousal frequency also increased with longer stimulus durations.
These effects were observed consistently across all measured sleep stages.

Conclusions:

Trigeminal nerve stimulation during sleep causes arousals.
The occurrence of sleep arousals is dependent on both the dose (concentration) and duration of the trigeminal stimulus.