Sleep modulates cortical connectivity and excitability in humans: Direct evidence from neural activity induced by...

Sleep-induced changes in human brain connectivity/excitability and their physiologic basis remain unclear, especially in the frontal lobe. We investigated sleep-induced connectivity and excitability changes in 11 patients who underwent chronic implantation of subdural electrodes for epilepsy surgery. Single-pulse electrical stimuli were directly injected to a part of the cortices, and cortico-cortical evoked potentials (CCEPs) and CCEP-related high-gamma activities (HGA: 100-200 Hz) were recorded from adjacent and remote cortices as proxies of effective connectivity and induced neuronal activity, respectively. HGA power during the initial CCEP component (N1) correlated with the N1 size itself across all states investigated. The degree of cortical connectivity and excitability changed during sleep depending on sleep stage, approximately showing dichotomy of awake vs. non-rapid eye movement (REM) [NREM] sleep. On the other hand, REM sleep partly had properties of both awake and NREM sleep, placing itself in the intermediate state between them. Compared with the awake state, single-pulse stimulation especially during NREM sleep induced increased connectivity (N1 size) and neuronal excitability (HGA increase at N1), which was immediately followed by intense inhibition (HGA decrease). The HGA decrease was temporally followed by the N2 peak (the second CCEP component), and then by HGA re-increase during sleep across all lobes. This HGA rebound or re-increase of neuronal synchrony was largest in the frontal lobe compared with the other lobes. These properties of sleep-induced changes of the cortex may be related to unconsciousness during sleep and frequent nocturnal seizures in frontal lobe epilepsy.