Relations anatomofonctionnelles des systèmes moteurs avec les systèmes de veille et de sommeil

Abstract

The present paper deals with relationships between neural systems which control motor behaviour (pyramidal and extrapyramidal) and sleep-wakefulness states (in particular the reticular formation). We examined successively their anatomical and neurochemical substrates, electrophysiological and functional motor alterations depending on ascending and descending influences from brain stem during the sleep-wakefulness cycle. These data suggest that sleep-wake states result from the modulation of excitability in neuronal pools and that each state results from the co-ordinated working of several functionally different neuronal pools. Thus, each state could be understood as a sum of behavioural events depending on a neural network. We hypothesized that abnormal motor events occurring specifically during a sleep state could result from motor structures abnormally recruited in neural networks specifically involved in this sleep state.