Rapid eye movement REM sleep

Non-REM sleep A state of usually dreamless sleep that occurs regularly during a normal period of sleep with intervening periods of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and that consists of four distinct substages and low levels of autonomic physiologic activity. 

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep A state of sleep that recurs cyclically several times during a normal period of sleep and is characterized by increased neuronal activity of the forebrain and midbrain, by depressed muscle tone, and especially in humans by dreaming, rapid eye movements, and vascular congestion of the sex organs. 

Perez, N. M. Benedito, M. A. (1997). Activities of monoamine oxidase (MAO) A and B in discrete regions of rat brain after rapid eye movement (REM) sleep deprivation. Pharmacol. Biochem. Behan. 58, 605-8. 

Shiromani, P. J. Fishbein, W. (1986). Continuous pontine cholinergic microinfusion via mini-pump induces sustained alterations in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav. 25, 1253-61. 

The discovery of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep (Aserinsky Kleit-man, 1953) as a state of enhanced electroencephalographic (EEG) activity implied... 

Salin-Pascual, R. J. Jimenez-Anguiano, A (1995). Vesamicol, an acetylcholine uptake blocker in presynaptic vesicles, suppresses rapid eye movement (REM) sleep in the rat. Psychopharmacology, fieri. 121, 485-7. 

Slow-wave sleep Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep... 

Many sites within the pons and medulla that contribute to the increased levels of arousal that characterize wakefulness and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep are under glutamatergic control. The pontine reticular formation, for example, is involved in phenomena related to REM sleep and to motor activity during wakefulness. Glutamatergic neurotransmission also mediates the responses of cells of the medial pontine reticular formation. These cells are depolarized and... 

The importance of peptide transmitters in the modulation of sleep and wakefulness has become apparent in recent years. Previous work had focused on the role of monoamines in the circuitry that regulates the transitions between states of vigilance. Histaminergic neurons in the tuberomammillary nucleus are known to be key players in the activation of subcortical afferents during wakefulness (Wada et al, 1991). Activity of noradrenergic neurons in the locus coeruleus correlates with the state of vigilance (Jones, 1991). The role of serotonergic neurons in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep has also been established (Lydic et al., 1987 Monti Jantos, 1992 Fabre et al., 2000). 

Humans typically have four to six cycles of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep each night, each cycle lasting 70 to 120 minutes. Usually there is progression through the four stages of NREM sleep before the first REM period. 

One peculiar effect of GHB is that it seems to reduce the symptoms of narcolepsy, a relatively rare sleep disorder. People with narcolepsy are excessively sleepy all the time and often have a condition called cataplexy, in which the person can suddenly and unexpectedly lose all muscle tone and fall immediately into rapid eye movement (REM) sleep (the stage of sleep during which dreaming occurs). 

Recurrent intrusions of elements of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep into the transition between sleep and wakefulness, as manifested by either hypnopompic or hypnagogic hallucinations or sleep paralysis at the beginning or end of sleep episodes... 

AD subjects have a higher prevalence of sleep disturbances than normal elderly, including sleep fragmentation, advancement of the sleep-wake cycle, and decreased amounts of slow wave and rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep (Prinz et al., 1982 Reynolds et al., 1988 Bliwise et al., 1989). Sleep-wake cycle disruption in AD has been associated with a greater burden of neuropsychiatric disturbances (Rebok et al., 1991 Ancoli-Israel et al., 1994), particularly apathy and delusions (Kaufer et al., 2001). Several studies have observed a relationship between the degree of intellectual impairment and REM sleep abnormalities (Prinz et al., 1982 Vitiello et al., 1984 Moe et al., 1995), underscoring the role of REM sleep in memory consolidation (Wilson McNaughton, 1994). 

Based on standardized scoring procedures (Rechtschaffen and Kales 1968), the entire sleep period is internally characterized as either rapid eye movement (REM) sleep or non-REM sleep, the latter including stages 1, 2, 3, and 4. Furthermore, stages 3 and 4 form the so-called slow-wave sleep (SWS). In this section, we describe the sleep stage characteristics of depression. 

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