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Blindness affects the developmental trajectory of the sleeping brain
Helene Vitali1, Claudio Campus2, Sabrina Signorini3
1Unit for Visually Impaired People, Center for Human Technologies, Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Via Enrico Melen 83, Building B, Genoa 16152, Italy; DIBRIS, University of Genova, Genoa 16145, Italy.
Neuroimage
|January 5, 2024
Summary
Fast sleep spindles, crucial for sensorimotor processing, are underdeveloped in blind children. This finding highlights fast spindles as early biomarkers for developmental deviations in visually impaired infants, guiding timely therapeutic interventions.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Sleep Medicine
Background:
- Sleep spindles are vital for brain development, sensory processing, and memory consolidation, reflecting thalamocortical circuit activity.
- Sleep spindles are categorized into slow (10-13 Hz) and fast (13-16 Hz) types, each linked to distinct neural functions.
- Fast spindles, oscillating in the high-sigma band, are associated with sensorimotor processing, a function impacted by visual deprivation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of blindness on the development of sleep spindles in infants and young children.
- To identify potential early biomarkers for developmental deviations in blind and severely visually impaired (BSI) children.
Main Methods:
- Recorded nap video-electroencephalography (EEG) in 50 blind/severely visually impaired (BSI) children and 64 sighted children, aged 5 months to 6 years.
- Analyzed both macro- and micro-structural aspects of sleep spindles.
- Examined event-related spectral perturbation in the high-sigma and high-beta frequency bands.
Main Results:
- BSI children exhibited a lack of developmental spindle evolution in the central brain regions.
- Young BSI children showed reduced central high-sigma and high-beta activity without typical maturational decreases.
- The observed low high-sigma and high-beta activity in BSI children correlated with clinical indicators of perceptual and motor impairments.
Conclusions:
- Fast sleep spindles serve as critical early biomarkers for identifying developmental deviations in BSI children.
- These findings underscore the importance of fast spindle development for sensorimotor integration.
- Early identification of these deviations can inform crucial therapeutic interventions for visually impaired children.
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