Reciprocal Interaction of Sleep and Synaptic Plasticity

Modulation of auditory activity and song replay during sleep in vocal motor system of songbirds. A. Auditory response is gated by sleep. (Left): Rectified averaged multiunit response to multiple presentations of bird’s own song (BOS) in the nucleus robustus archistriatalis (RA). Recording of 3 sites from one adult bird. W: during waking; S: during sleep. (Right): Raster plot of single RA unit activity. The response to BOS developed as the anesthetic (urethane: arrow) took effect. Adapted from Dave et al. (68). B. Neuronal replay during sleep. Simultaneous recordings from two neurons in RA. Color spectrograph of the song that was sung (Top). Raw traces of neuronal activity during sleep (Spon). Premotor activity during singing (Mot). Adapted from Dave and Margoliash (70).