REM desensitization

We studied the effect of sleep excess on the sleep-wakefulness pattern of rats. Subarachnoid infusion of prostaglandin D2 or the adenosine A2a receptor agonist CGS21680 effectively induced slow wave sleep (SWS) for the first 12 h of the night-time period, whereas they did not induce sleep during the following 24 h of infusion. An increase in the amount of wakefulness was seen during the last 12 h of prostaglandin D2 infusion. The amounts of wakefulness strongly increased during the following 36-h recovery period...

BACKGROUND: Nicotinic receptor dysfunction is a possible mechanism of the abnormal sensory gating observed in schizophrenia with the P50 auditory event-related potential. Although nicotinic receptors normally desensitize after activation by acetylcholine or nicotine, pathologically increased desensitization might cause receptor dysfunction in schizophrenia. To examine this possibility, central cholinergic neuronal activity was diminished by allowing schizophrenic patients to sleep briefly, after which they experienced a transient period of normal P50 gating, consistent with receptor resensitization during the absence of cholinergic stimulation...

Previous studies showed that chronic deprivation of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep had the same behavioral effects as antidepressant drugs in helpless rats. Since long-term treatment with antidepressants is known to affect central serotoninergic neurotransmission, we investigated whether REM sleep deprivation also exerts an influence on the activity of serotoninergic neurons within the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) in rats. REM sleep deprivation was performed using the platform technique. Recording of serotoninergic neurons in the DRN revealed no difference in the basal firing rate, but a reduced inhibitory response to the selective serotonin (5-HT) reuptake blockers cericlamine and citalopram after repeated but not acute REM sleep deprivation...

Eye movement desensitization is a new and effective procedure for post-traumatic stress disorder that requires explanation. Reverse learning is a model developed in artificial neural networks as a theoretical explanation of rapid-eye-movement sleep. It demonstrates that an overloaded node within a network can be consolidated with a series of non-specific activations. Rapid-eye-movement sleep is suspected to have a memory consolidation function. Ponto-geniculo-occipital spikes, which occur in rapid-eye-movement sleep, are a candidate for such activations in the real brain...

Recently, we proposed that the coupling of cognitive activation and diminished arousal during REM sleep may have a mood regulating effect. Conversely, increased arousal during REM sleep may be associated with mood dysregulation. In this paper, the desensitization model is described, and data are presented on the association between motor activity during REM sleep, wakefulness and severity of depression. Motor activity sleep EEG data and two measures of depressive severity (BDI and HRSD) were obtained from 23 depressed patients...

Recent years have seen considerable interest in rapid eye movement desensitization (REMD), a novel procedure for the treatment of traumatic memories and related conditions. REM is usually administered as a component of a broader therapeutic procedure, now termed eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). On the basis of previous and largely uncontrolled work, it is not clear to what degree therapeutic gains can be attributed exclusively to REMD. Following exposure to a contrived trauma, Ss were allocated to one of three conditions: REMD; slow eye movement desensitization (SEMD); and stationary-imagery (SI; i...

Diminished suppression of the P50 response to repeated auditory stimuli is one example of a deficit in elementary sensory processing in schizophrenia. Normal subjects suppress the response to the second of two paired auditory stimuli. Although normal suppression is occasionally observed in schizophrenic patients, it generally disappears with subsequent testing. We have previously reported that slow wave sleep (SWS) transiently normalized suppression in schizophrenic patients and that the degree of suppression was positively correlated with the depth of SWS attained...

In many dorsolateral pontine neurons, auditory stimulation produces an initial excitation followed by a sustained inhibition. We now report that rapid eye movement (REM) sleep deprivation, for periods of from 22-48 h, reduced this auditory evoked inhibition of unit discharge. Inhibition returned to baseline levels after recovery REM sleep. Prior work indicates that the auditory evoked inhibition seen in noradrenergic cells in this region is partially mediated by norepinephrine. We hypothesize that the reduction in inhibition that we see is a consequence of either downregulation/desensitization of norepinephrine receptors or reduced norepinephrine release resulting from REM sleep deprivation...