During inattentive wakefulness and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, the neocortex and thalamus cooperatively engage in rhythmic activities that are exquisitely reflected in the electroencephalogram as distinctive rhythms spanning a range of frequencies from <1 Hz slow waves to 13 Hz alpha waves. In the thalamus, these diverse activities emerge through the interaction of cell-intrinsic mechanisms and local and long-range synaptic inputs. One crucial feature, however, unifies thalamic oscillations of different frequencies: repetitive burst firing driven by voltage-dependent Ca²⁺ spikes. Recent evidence reveals that thalamic Ca²⁺ spikes are inextricably linked to global somatodendritic Ca²⁺ transients and are essential for several forms of thalamic plasticity. Thus, we propose herein that alongside their rhythm-regulation function, thalamic oscillations of low-vigilance states have a plasticity function that, through modifications of synaptic strength and cellular excitability in local neuronal assemblies, can shape ongoing oscillations during inattention and NREM sleep and may potentially reconfigure thalamic networks for faithful information processing during attentive wakefulness.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	Sleep, Epilepsy, Oscillations, Plasticity, Thalamus
Research Division:	Biomedical and Clinical Sciences
Research Group:	Neurosciences
Research Field:	Cellular nervous system
Objective Division:	Health
Objective Group:	Clinical health
Objective Field:	Clinical health not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Connelly, WM (Dr William Connelly)
ID Code:	131553
Year Published:	2018
Web of Science® Times Cited:	56
Deposited By:	Medicine
Deposited On:	2019-03-22
Last Modified:	2019-05-31
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