reviewNeuronJan 13, 2025HYBRID OA

Anything but small: Microarousals stand at the crossroad between noradrenaline signaling and key sleep functions

ALAnita LüthiMNMaiken Nedergaard

University of Lausanne

PubMed
Indexed incrossrefpubmed

Abstract

Continuous sleep restores the brain and body, whereas fragmented sleep harms cognition and health. Microarousals (MAs), brief (3- to 15-s-long) wake intrusions into sleep, are clinical markers for various sleep disorders. Recent rodent studies show that MAs during healthy non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep are driven by infraslow fluctuations of noradrenaline (NA) in coordination with electrophysiological rhythms, vasomotor activity, cerebral blood volume, and glymphatic flow. MAs are hence part of healthy sleep dynamics, raising questions about their biological roles. We propose that MAs bolster NREM sleep's benefits associated with NA fluctuations, according to an inverted U-shaped curve. Weakened…

Citation impact

59
total citations
FWCI
65.85
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100%
References
144
Citations per year

Authors

2

Topics & keywords

Topics
Keywords
  • Non-rapid eye movement sleep
  • Sleep (system call)
  • Neuroscience
  • Arousal
  • Psychology
  • Wakefulness
  • Sleep deprivation
  • Vasomotor
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