Abstract
ObjectivesThe thalamus and cerebral cortex are connected via topographically organized, reciprocal connections, which hold a key function in segregating internally and externally directed awareness information. Previous task-related studies have revealed altered activities of the thalamus after total sleep deprivation (TSD). However, it is still unclear how TSD impacts on the communication between the thalamus and cerebral cortex. In this study, we examined changes of thalamocortical functional connectivity after 36 hours of total sleep deprivation by using resting state function MRI (fMRI).Materials and MethodsFourteen healthy volunteers were recruited and performed fMRI scans before and after 36 hours of TSD. Seed-based functional connectivity analysis was employed and differences of thalamocortical functional connectivity were tested between the rested wakefulness (RW) and TSD conditions.ResultsWe found that the right thalamus showed decreased functional connectivity with the right parahippocampal gyrus, right middle temporal gyrus and right superior frontal gyrus in the resting brain after TSD when compared with that after normal sleep. As to the left thalamus, decreased connectivity was found with the right medial frontal gyrus, bilateral middle temporal gyri and left superior frontal gyrus.ConclusionThese findings suggest disruptive changes of the thalamocortical functional connectivity after TSD, which may lead to the decline of the arousal level and information integration, and subsequently, influence the human cognitive functions.
Highlights
Sleep deprivation (SD) can potentially lead to deficits in many cognitive and affective capacities [1], especially for sustained or vigilant attention which are robust and are of great importance in predicting real-world cognitive errors [2]
We found that the right thalamus showed decreased functional connectivity with the right parahippocampal gyrus, right middle temporal gyrus and right superior frontal gyrus in the resting brain after total sleep deprivation (TSD) when compared with that after normal sleep
Task-dependent functional MRI (fMRI) studies have identified the brain attention and control network areas such as the thalamus, basal ganglia, cerebellum, frontal and parietal cortexes are associated with these cognitive deficits, indicating the brain functions are adversely affected after SD [7,8,9,10]
Summary
Sleep deprivation (SD) can potentially lead to deficits in many cognitive and affective capacities [1], especially for sustained or vigilant attention which are robust and are of great importance in predicting real-world cognitive errors [2]. By using working memory paradigms, fMRI studies have reported decreases in the activation of the thalamus and the parietal cortex after TSD [8,9,10] These results are consistent with those positron emission tomography (PET) studies which indicated that cerebral metabolism in the thalamus, basal ganglia, cerebellum, frontal and parietal cortex was decreased following SD [13]. Tomasi and his colleagues found that task difficulty was associated with an inverse relationship between parietal cortex and thalamus activity (decreased activity in the parietal cortex and increased activity in the thalamus) [7] This suggests that thalamic hyperactivation during SD could underlie the reduced activation in the parietal lobe and the blunted deactivation in cingulate cortices, which represents the impaired attention networks after TSD
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