Brain rhythms underpinning memory consolidation in sleep
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Rhythms of the night: Investigation of the brain rhythms underpinning memory consolidation in sleep
IRAS ID
259167
Contact name
Liz Coulthard
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bristol
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
N/A, N/A
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 2 months, 1 days
Research summary
Sleep is an essential brain state, one of its primary functions is the consolidation of short-term memory into long-term ones. This is done through a complex interplay of brain rhythms of different frequencies, with memories being sent across the brain for storage and weakly formed memories being replayed in local circuits to strengthen them. \nPrevious studies have shown that synchrony between these different wave types from related brain areas, is vital for the effectiveness of this process. Neurological disorders and ageing are the most common causes of the degradation of this synchrony.\nScalp EEG is often used to record brain activity over night, being able to detect the high amplitude signals, but struggles to detect lower amplitude signals that originate from deeper within the brain. Another limitation is the detachment of readings from the scalp to more direct measurement methods because of the collative effect of the skull to electrical signals. Intra-cranial electrodes placed within the hippocampus can directly measure low amplitude signals in the areas they are placed. The critical signals of interest are hippocampal ripples, which are known to be important for memory consolidation processes. \nPatients with Epilepsy who do not respond well to anti-epileptic drugs, sometimes have intra-cranial electrodes placed into their hippocampus as part an epilepsy surgery work-up. There is an opportunity, therefore, to use data from this patient population to better understand the workings of memory consolidation during sleep.\nIn this project the research team will be developing computational techniques to better analyse sleep data from both intra-cranial and scalp electrodes. The starting point for this is the collection of sleep data from patients with intra-cranial electrodes in the Epilepsy ward at Southmead Hospital to begin development of these techniques, and start to understand the relationships between different brain rhythms and how they relate to effective memory consolidation.\n
REC name
South West - Central Bristol Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/SW/0100
Date of REC Opinion
12 Jun 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion