Neurophysiology of the States of Sleep
Michel Jouvet
Physiological Reviews 47 (2) pp : 117-177 (1967)
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Definitions and Abbreviations

State of Sleep Characterized by Slow Cortical Activity Slow Sleep

Behavioral aspect

Electrophysiological aspect

Structures and mechanisms responsible for slow sleep

State of Sleep Characterized by Fast Cortical Activity-Paradoxical Sleep

Behavioral aspects

Electrophysiological aspects

Structures and mechanisms responsible for paradoxical sleep

A synthesis of paradoxical sleep mechanisms

Relationship with oneiric activity in man

Phylogenesis of the States of Sleep

Ontogenesis of the States of Sleep

Relationship Between Slow Sleep and Paradoxical Sleep Unicity or Duality of Sleep Mechanisms

A Possible Monoaminergic Theory of Sleep

Figure 1

Figure 2

Bibliography

PRINT
Printable version

IV. Phylogenesis of the states of sleep

The phylogenetic study of sleep allows us to dissociate (250), during the course of evolution, the appearance of slow sleep from that of PS. In reptiles (tortoise, for instance) only the state of slow sleep was found and PS could not be observed (201). In birds (chicks, hens, pigeons), a "slowsleep"state is quite typical and electrically resembles that of mammals (275, 276, 421) though there are no spindles and few slow waves, and PS is extremely short (10 sec). However, PS is quite distinct it is accompanied by a short acceleration of the electrical activity of the hyperstriatum, by an important reduction but not by total disappearance of the neck muscle tone, by bursts of phasic ocular movements, and by bradycardia. Until now, all mammals observed [rat (75, 96, 313, 417), mouse (433), rabbit (17, 148, 263, 435), opossum (407), cat and dog (55, 405), sheep (235), goat (391, 392), macacus (436), and chimpanzee (5, 372)] present the two states of sleep just studied. In certain species a few special features are known, e.g. in the rabbit PS is hormonally dependent and a long habituation is necessary in order to observe it. On the other hand, in newborn ruminants, the two states of sleep may be easily observed; PS tends to decrease considerably in adult animals (235, 392) and this may explain why PS has not been described before (37).

Next page