Phylogeny and the function of REM sleep

Phylogenetic studies in placental and marsupial mammals have demonstrated three major correlates of increased REM sleep time across these species. These are high amounts of non-REM sleep time, safe sleep conditions and immaturity at birth. While these variables explain approximately 30% of the varia...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behavioural brain research 1995-07, Vol.69 (1), p.29-34
Main Author: Siegel, J.M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anatomical correlates of behavior
Animals
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Biological Evolution
Birds - physiology
Echidna
Evolution
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Mammals - physiology
Monotreme
Phylogeny
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Reticular formation
Sleep, REM - physiology
Unit activity
Vertebrata
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Summary:Phylogenetic studies in placental and marsupial mammals have demonstrated three major correlates of increased REM sleep time across these species. These are high amounts of non-REM sleep time, safe sleep conditions and immaturity at birth. While these variables explain approximately 30% of the variance in REM sleep time across these orders, these relations are violated when animals other than placentals are included. Birds are small, many have safe sleeping situations and are certainly immature at birth, yet they have less REM sleep than the vast majority of mammals. The echidna is immature at birth, has high amounts of non-REM sleep and safe sleeping conditions, yet has been reported to have no REM sleep. Our recent studies in the echidna indicate that REM and non-REM sleep did not evolve sequentially, but rather evolved as a differentiation of a primitive state which held the seeds of both sleep states. The echidna sleeps with an activated brainstem and EEG synchronized forebrain. Future studies of sleep phylogeny need to compare the behavior of key neuronal groups across the sleep cycle, since these results indicate that EEG variables and sleep state durations may give an inadequate picture of the nature of brain activity during sleep.
ISSN:0166-4328
1872-7549
DOI:10.1016/0166-4328(95)00023-M