Sleep Spindles as Facilitators of Memory Formation and Learning

Figure 2

(a) Experimental approach for studying the role of spindles in synaptic plasticity. Spindle discharge patterns were used to trigger excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) in pyramidal neurons. The same spindle trains were used to elicit action potentials in the soma. (b) Sample traces and EPSP time course before and after spindle conditioning. Concurrent pre- and postsynaptic spindles lead to statistically significant long-term synaptic potentiation ().

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