Although the induction of behavioural unconsciousness during sleep and general anaesthesia has been shown to involve overlapping brain mechanisms, sleep involves cyclic fluctuations between different brain states known as active (paradoxical or rapid eye movement: REM) and quiet (slow-wave or non-REM: nREM) stages whereas commonly used general anaesthetics induce a unitary slow-wave brain state. Long-duration, multi-site forebrain field recordings were performed in urethane-anaesthetized rats. A spontaneous and rhythmic alternation of brain state between activated and deactivated electroencephalographic (EEG) patterns was observed. Individual states and their transitions resembled the REM/nREM cycle of natural sleep in their EEG components, evolution, and time frame (∼11 minute period). Other physiological variables such as muscular tone, respiration rate, and cardiac frequency also covaried with forebrain state in a manner identical to sleep. The brain mechanisms of state alternations under urethane also closely overlapped those of natural sleep in their sensitivity to cholinergic pharmacological agents and dependence upon activity in the basal forebrain nuclei that are the major source of forebrain acetylcholine. Lastly, stimulation of brainstem regions thought to pace state alternations in sleep transiently disrupted state alternations under urethane. Our results suggest that urethane promotes a condition of behavioural unconsciousness that closely mimics the full spectrum of natural sleep. The use of urethane anaesthesia as a model system will facilitate mechanistic studies into sleep-like brain states and their alternations. In addition, it could also be exploited as a tool for the discovery of new molecular targets that are designed to promote sleep without compromising state alternations.

Various subsets of brain neurons express a hyperpolarization-activated inward current ( I _h) that has been shown to be instrumental in pacing oscillatory activity at both a single-cell and a network level. A characteristic feature of the stellate cells (SCs) of entorhinal cortex (EC) layer II, those neurons giving rise to the main component of the perforant path input to the hippocampal formation, is their ability to generate persistent, Na⁺-dependent rhythmic subthreshold membrane potential oscillations, which are thought to be instrumental in implementing theta rhythmicity in the entorhinal-hippocampal network. The SCs also display a robust time-dependent inward rectification in the hyperpolarizing direction that may contribute to the generation of these oscillations. We performed whole cell recordings of SCs in in vitro slices to investigate the specific biophysical and pharmacological properties of the current underlying this inward rectification and to clarify its potential role in the genesis of the subthreshold oscillations. In voltage-clamp conditions, hyperpolarizing voltage steps evoked a slow, noninactivating inward current, which also deactivated slowly on depolarization. This current was identified as I _h because it was resistant to extracellular Ba²⁺, sensitive to Cs⁺, completely and selectively abolished by ZD7288, and carried by both Na⁺and K⁺ ions. I _h in the SCs had an activation threshold and reversal potential at approximately −45 and −20 mV, respectively. Its half-activation voltage was −77 mV. Importantly, bath perfusion with ZD7288, but not Ba²⁺, gradually and completely abolished the subthreshold oscillations, thus directly implicating I _h in their generation. Using experimentally derived biophysical parameters for I _h and the low-threshold persistent Na⁺ current ( I _NaP) present in the SCs, a simplified model of these neurons was constructed and their subthreshold electroresponsiveness simulated. This indicated that the interplay between I _NaP and I _h can sustain persistent subthreshold oscillations in SCs. I _NaP and I _h operate in a “push-pull” fashion where the delay in the activation/deactivation of I _h gives rise to the oscillatory process.

Data from perinatal and juvenile rodents support our hypothesis that the preBötzinger complex generates inspiratory rhythm and the retrotrapezoid nucleus–parafacial respiratory group (RTN/pFRG) generates active expiration (AE). Although the role of the RTN/pFRG in adulthood is disputed, we hypothesized that its rhythmogenicity persists but is typically silenced by synaptic inhibition. We show in adult anesthetized rats that local pharmacological disinhibition or optogenetic excitation of the RTN/pFRG can generate AE and transforms previously silent RTN/pFRG neurons into rhythmically active cells whose firing is correlated with late-phase active expiration. Brief excitatory stimuli also reset the respiratory rhythm, indicating strong coupling of AE to inspiration. The AE network location in adult rats overlaps with the perinatal pFRG and appears lateral to the chemosensitive region of adult RTN. We suggest that (1) the RTN/pFRG contains a conditional oscillator that generates AE, and (2) at rest and in anesthesia, synaptic inhibition of RTN/pFRG suppresses AE.

State-dependent EEG in the hippocampus (HPC) has traditionally been divided into two activity patterns: theta, a large-amplitude, regular oscillation with a bandwidth of 3–12 Hz, and large-amplitude irregular activity (LIA), a less regular signal with broadband characteristics. Both of these activity patterns have been linked to the memory functions subserved by the HPC. Here we describe, using extracellular field recording techniques in naturally sleeping and urethane-anesthetized rats, a novel state present during deactivated stages of sleep and anesthesia that is characterized by a prominent large-amplitude and slow frequency (≤1 Hz) rhythm. We have called this activity the hippocampal slow oscillation (SO) because of its similarity and correspondence with the previously described neocortical SO. Almost all hippocampal units recorded exhibited differential spiking behavior during the SO as compared with other states. Although the hippocampal SO occurred in situations similar to the neocortical SO, it demonstrated some independence in its initiation, coordination, and coherence. The SO was abolished by sensory stimulation or cholinergic agonism and was enhanced by increasing anesthetic depth or muscarinic receptor antagonism. Laminar profile analyses of the SO showed a phase shift and prominent current sink-source alternations in stratum lacunosum-moleculare of CA1. This, along with correlated slow oscillatory field and multiunit activity in superficial entorhinal cortex suggests that the hippocampal SO may be coordinated with slow neocortical activity through input arriving via the temporo-ammonic pathway. This novel state may present a favorable milieu for synchronization-dependent synaptic plasticity within and between hippocampal and neocortical ensembles.

Gamma oscillations (40–120 Hz), usually associated with waking functions, can be recorded in the deepest stages of sleep in animals. The full details of their large-scale coordination across multiple cortical networks are still unknown. Furthermore, it is not known whether oscillations with similar characteristics are also present in the human brain. In this study, we examined the existence of gamma oscillations during polysomnographically defined sleep–wake states using large-scale microelectrode recordings (up to 56 channels), with single-cell and spike-time precision, in epilepsy patients. We report that low (40–80 Hz) and high (80–120 Hz) gamma oscillations recurrently emerged over time windows of several hundreds of milliseconds in all investigated cortical areas during slow-wave sleep. These patterns were correlated with positive peaks of EEG slow oscillations and marked increases in local cellular discharges, suggesting that they were associated with cortical UP states. These gamma oscillations frequently appeared at approximately the same time in many different cortical areas, including homotopic regions, forming large spatial patterns. Coincident firings with millisecond precision were strongly enhanced during gamma oscillations but only between cells within the same cortical area. Furthermore, in a significant number of cases, cortical gamma oscillations tended to occur within 100 ms after hippocampal ripple/sharp wave complexes. These data confirm and extend earlier animal studies reporting that gamma oscillations are transiently expressed during UP states during sleep. We speculate that these high-frequency patterns briefly restore “microwake” activity and are important for consolidation of memory traces acquired during previous awake periods.