Topic 106 - The physiology of sleeping; the reticular formation; the limbic system, behavior

Question 1

Words to include in the physiology of sleeping

Answer 1

• Reversible unconsciousness
• Special brainwaves patterns
• Parasympathetic dominance
• Sporadic eye movement
• Loss of muscle tone
• Compensatory increase following deprivation of state
• Non-responsiveness to external stimuli
• Changes
  
  • Respiration
  • Blood pressure
  • Heart rate

Phases of sleep

• Electroencephalography features (EEG)
• NonREM sleep
  
  • Entering sleep
  • Superficial sleep
  • Deep sleep (SWS)
  • Very deep sleep (SWS)
  • EEG slow wave sleep
    
    • Phase 3 & 4
  • Desynchronized EEG
  • Eye movement
  • Phasic muscle contraction
  • Penile erection
  • Sympathetic activation ↑
  • Electroencephalographic
• REM sleep
  
  • Paradoxical sleep
  • Rapie Eye Movement
  • Rapid low-voltage EEG
• Waking

Biological clock

• Sleep-wake cycle
• Light-dark cycle
• Circadian rhythms
  
  • Circadian clock
  • Zeitgebers
    
    • Daylight
  • Supervise hormone production
  • Suprachiasmatic nucleus (controls)
    
    • Peptides
    • Neurotransmitters
    • Hypothalamus

Question 2

Words to include in the reticular formation

Answer 2

• Reticular formation
  
  • Regulation of sleep
• Serotonin
  
  • Raphe nuclei
• Locus coreulus group
  
  • Norepinephrine
  • Active arousal
  • REM phase shift
• Brain stem
  
  • Dopamine
  • ACh
  • Histamine
• Afferents
  
  • Viscerosomatic sensory system
  • Afferent cranial nerves
  • Motor cortex
  • Thalamus
  • Hypothalamus
• Efferents
  
  • Descending reticular formation
    
    • Spinal cord
      
      • Reticulo spinal tract
  • Upper brain areas
    
    • Non-specific nuclei
      
      • Thalamus
      • Cortex
      • Limbic system
      • Cerebellum
      • Hypothalamus
• Functions:
  
  • Sleep-wake cycle
  • Limbic system
    
    • Emotions
  • Visceral function
  • Controlling axial muscles
• Descending reticular system
  
  • Inhibitory part
  • Fascilitating part
• Ascending reticular activating system
  
  • Upper centers (arousal)
  • Neurotransmitter organs
    
    • Norepinephrine system (NA)
      
      • REM state
    • Serotonin system (5-HT)
    • Dopamine system
    • Histamine system
    • Cholinergic system (ACh)

Question 3

Words to include in the limbic system

Answer 3

• Adrenal flow
• Emotion
• Behavior
• Motivation
• Long-term memory
• Olfaction
  
  • ​Proencephalon of lower vertebrates
• Integration of the most primitive cortical mechanisms
  
  • Emotional
  • Sexual
  • Visceral
• Sleep-wake cycle
• Emotional learning
• Medial limbic ring
  
  • ​Cortical area
    
    • Hippocampus
    • Bulbus olfactorius
    • Area piriformis
    • Cortex near amygdala
  • Archipallium
• Basolateral or amygdalic limbic ring
  
  • ​Cingulate gyrus
  • Amygdala
  • Septum pellucidum
  • Rostral and dorsomedial nuclei of thalamus
  • Mesophallium
• Afferents
  
  • ​Spinothalamic tract
    
    • Spinal cord
    • Reticular formation
    • Thalamus
    • Hypothalamus
  • Olfactory tract
• Papez circuit
  
  • ​Efferentation of the limbic system
    
    • Hypothalamus
    • Thalamus and tectal nuclei
    • Cingulate gyrus
• Mesopallium
  
  • ​Amygdala
    
    • Sexual mechanisms
    • Attacking
  • Septal nuclei
    
    • ​Fear
    • Defending reaction
• Arachipallium
  
  • ​Learning
  • Cortical memory processing
  • Emotional recations control
  • Sexual stimuli
    
    • Gonadotropic function of hypothalamus
  • Noxious externals stimuli
    
    • Sympatho - adrenal axis

Question 4

Words to include in behavior

Answer 4

• Motor activity
  
  • Direct
  • Spontaneous
• Basic patterns of locomotor activity
  
  • Congenial
  • Inherited motion patterns
• Activation / inhibition of reticular formation
• Biological rhythms
  
  • ​Biological clock

Behavior

• Behavior pattern group
  
  • ​Ethogram
• Ordinary behavior patterns
• Signaling behavior patterns
  
  • Specific movement plans
• Exploratory and playful behavior patterns
• External / internal pattern of stimuli

Instinct

• Hard coded
• Reflexes
• Taxes
  
  • ​Orientation instincts
• Modal series of action
  
  • ​Defense
  • Attack
  • Mating
  • Same order
• Motivation
  
  • Endogenous factor of the releaser
  • Appetence
  • Aversion
• Releaser → response

Question 5

The physiology of sleeping

Physological characteristics of sleeping

Answer 5

• Reversible unconsciousness
• Special brainwaves patterns
• Parasympathetic dominance
• Sporadic eye movement
• Loss of muscle tone
• Compensatory increase following deprivation of state

Changes during sleep:

• Respiration
• Blood pressure
• Heart rate

Question 6

The physiology of sleeping

Behavioral characteristics of sleeping

Answer 6

• Non-responsiveness the external stimuli
• The adaptation of a typical posture, and occupation of sheltered site
• Usually repeated on a 24 hour basis

Question 7

The physiology of sleep

Name the phases of sleep

Answer 7

1. Non-rapid eye movement sleep (Non-REM)
   
   • Entering sleep
   • Superficial sleep
   • Deep sleep (SWS)
   • Very deep sleep (SWS)
2. Rapid eye movement sleep (REM)
3. Wakening

Question 8

The physiology of sleep

How are the different stages of sleep separated

Answer 8

• By separating different electroencephalogrphy (EEG) features of sleep into five different levels, which represents the spectrum from wakefulness to deep sleep

Question 9

The physiology of sleep

Non-REM sleep

Answer 9

• Non-REM: non-rapid eye movement
• Sages of non-REM sleep
  
  1. ​Entering sleep
  2. Superficial sleep
  3. Deep sleep (SWS)
  4. Very deep sleep (SWS)
• EEG slow wave sleep is recorded in stage 3 and 4
• Order shown reaches back to stage 2 in one hour, and is repeated three-four times during normal sleep
  
  • This phase is characterized with:
    
    • Desynchronized EEG
    • Eye movement
    • Phasic muscle contraction
    • Penile erection
    • Sympathetic activation ↑

Question 10

The physiology of sleep

REM sleep

Answer 10

• REM: Rapid Eye Movement
• Also called paradoxal sleep
• 20-25% of total sleep in human adults
• Criteria:
  
  • Rapid eye movement
  • Rapid low-voltage EEG

Question 11

The physiology of sleep

What is the graph that represents the different stages of sleep named?

Answer 11

Hypnogram

Question 12

The physiology of sleep

The biological clock

Answer 12

• Generate signals to tell us the time
• Sleep-waye cycle is determied by the suprachiasmatic nucleus
  
  • ​This nucleus is a main site of producing other circadian rhythsm
• Functions:
  
  • Light-dark cycle
    
    • ​Receive the external stimuli by vision
  • Its independent biological clock dictates a 25-horus basal circadaian rhythm

Question 13

The physiology of sleep

Suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)

Answer 13

• The suprachiasmatic nucleus controls the cicradian rhythm
• Location: hypothalamus
• Contains several different types of peptides and neurotransmitters

Question 14

The physiology of sleeping

The circadian rhythm

Answer 14

• A circadian rhythm is any biological process that displays an endogenous (“built-in”, self sustained), entrainable oscillation of about 24 hours
  
  • These 24-horus rhythms are driven by a circadian clock
• Although circadian rhythms are endogenous, they are adjusted to the local environment by external cues called zeitgebers
  
  • ​Eg. daylight

Question 15

The reticular formation

Location

Answer 15

An area of the brain stem composed of small neurons forming neural network

Question 16

The reticular formation

Sleep-wake cycle

Answer 16

1. Actively involved in the regulation of sleep
   
   • Serotonin production of raphe nuclei actively facilitates synchronization and generates sleep
2. Cause an arousal or a shift to REM phase
   
   • ​The locus coreulus group of nuclei in the reticular formation produces norepinephrin
3. Dopamine, ACh and histamine have an effect on the brainstem
4. Thalamus and hypothalamus
   
   • Involved in regulation of sleep-wake cycle

Question 17

The reticular formation

Afferents

Answer 17

1. Information from the viscerosomatic sensory system and from the afferent cranial nerves
2. A particular group of afferents from the sensory and motor cortex, the thalamus and the hypothalamus

Question 18

The reticular formation

Efferents

Answer 18

• Descending reticular formation
  
  • Efferntation to the spinal cord (reticulo spinal tract)
• Efferents to upper brain areas
  
  • Non-specific nuclei of the thalamus, cortex, limbic system, cerebellum and hypothalamus

Question 19

The reticular formation

Functions

Answer 19

1. Regulate sleep-wake cycle
2. Conducting sensory info to the limbic system, altering emotions
3. Coordination of visceral function (circulation, ventilation, swallowing, coughing and sneezing)
4. Coordination of posture by controlling axial muscles

Question 20

The reticular formation

Descending reticular system

Answer 20

Inhibitory and facilitating parts

• Inhibitor: Inhibits myotatic and other subcortical organized reflexes
• Facilitating: Activating increases the intensity of motor processes

Question 21

The reticular formation

Ascending reticular activation system

Answer 21

• Gears up activity of all the upper centers (arousal)
• 5 different neurotransmitter organs:
  1. ​​Norepinephrine system → REM state
  2. Serotonin system
  3. Dopamine system
  4. Histamine system
  5. Chlinergic system (ACh)

Question 22

The limbic system

Role

Answer 22

• Generates emotions → behavor / instinct will be generated
• Integration of the most primitive cortical mechanism:
  
  • Emotional, sexual and visceral organs
• Emotional learning

Question 23

The limbic system

Which functions is suppored by the limbic system?

Answer 23

1. Adrenal flow
2. Emotion
3. Behavior
4. Motivation
5. Long-term memory
6. Olfaction
   
   • ​​Main function of the proencephalon of lower vertebrates

Question 24

The limbic system

Divisions of the limbic system

Answer 24

1. Medial limbic ring
   
   • Composed of:
     
     • ​Cortical area of hippocampus
     • Bulbus olfactorius
     • Area piriformis
     • Cortex near amygdala
2. Basolateral (amygdalic) limbic ring
   
   • ​​Composed of:
     
     • Cingulate gyrus
     • Amygdala
     • Septum pellucidum
     • Rostral and dorsomedial nuclei of the thalamus belonging to mesophallium

Question 25

The limbic system

Afferentation

Answer 25

• Two main afferents:
  
  1. Spinothalamic tract
  2. Olfactory tract

Question 26

The limbic system

Efferentation

Answer 26

• Papez circuit is the main efferent
• Efferentation to the hypothalamus
• Efferentation to the thalamus and tectal nuclei
• Efferentation to the cingulate gyrus
• The term circuit is used because the efferent fibers are reaching again the limbic system
  
  • Through the thalamus and cingulate gyrus

Question 27

The limbic system

Functions of the limbic system

Answer 27

1. Mesencephallium
   
   • ​Amygdala
     
     • ​Stimulates amygdala
     • Responsible for sexual mechanisms
   • Septal nuclei
     
     • ​Evoke fear and defending reaction
     • Inhibit medulla
     • Bilateral exatirpationa → extreme aggression and raging
2. Arachipallium
   
   • ​Main function:
     
     • Learning
     • Cortical memory processing

Question 28

Behavior

Basic phenomen of behavior and instinct

Answer 28

• Motoric activity
• Appear as motion in some directions (locomotion activity) which can be:
  
  • Directed
  • Spontaneous
• Basic patterns of locomotor activity are either congenital or base on inherited motion patterns
• Activity itself:
  
  • Based on the activation or inhibition of the reticular formation
• Biological rhythms: Rhytmical repeating periods

Question 29

Behavior

Types of behavior

Answer 29

• All possible behavior in a species is called behavioral pattern group (ethogram)

1. ​Ordinary behavior patterns
   
   • Metabolism, reproduction and emotion
2. Signaling behavior patterns
   
   • Activate specific movement plans
3. Exploratory and playful behavior patterns

Question 30

Behavior

Types of instinct

Answer 30

• Hard coded

1. Reflexes
   
   • Most simple
2. Taxes
   
   • (movement towards/away)
3. Modal series of action
   
   • Patterns of action characteristic to the species, which take place in a specified order during certain vital processes
   • Fixed series of action by defense, attack, mating, etc.

• Evoked by a releaser → response
• Motivation: endogenous factor of the releaser
  *