A model of Ponto-Geniculo-Occipital waves supports bidirectional control of cortical plasticity across sleep-stages

During sleep, cortical network connectivity likely undergoes both synaptic potentiation and depression through system consolidation and homeostatic processes. However, how these modifications are coordinated across sleep stages remains largely unknown. Candidate mechanisms are Ponto-Geniculo-Occipital (PGO) waves, propagating across several structures during Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep and the transitional stage from non-REM sleep to REM sleep (pre-REM), and exhibiting sleep stage-specific dynamic patterns. To understand their impact on cortical plasticity, we built an acetylcholine-modulated neural mass model of PGO wave propagation through pons, thalamus and cortex, reproducing a broad range of electrophysiological characteristics across sleep stages. Using a population model of Spike-Time-Dependent Plasticity, we show that cortical circuits undergo different transient regimes depending on the sleep stage, with different impacts on plasticity. Specifically, PGO-induced recurrent cortical activities lead to the potentiation of cortico-cortical synapses during pre-REM, and to their depression during REM sleep. Overall, these results shed light on how the dynamical properties of sleep events propagating to cortical circuits can favor different types of local plastic changes. The variety of events occurring across sleep stages may thus be instrumental in controlling the reorganization of cortical networks from one day to the next. Significance statementConsiderable evidence supports rescaling of cortical synaptic connec-tions during sleep, requiring both long term potentiation to consolidate newly acquired memories, and long-term depression to maintain homeostatic levels of brain activity. However, which aspects of sleep activity contribute to this bidirectional control of plasticity remains unclear. This computational modeling study suggests that widespread transient phenomena called Ponto-geniculo-occipital (PGO) waves, have a sleep-stage dependent effect on plasticity. The alternation between sleep stages can thus be exploited in combination with spontaneously occurring transients, to trigger both up- and down-regulating effects on cortical connectivity, and may explain why the basic structure of sleep-cycles is a well-preserved property across mammalian species.