Analysis of the reactivation of food-odor evoked activity in the olfactory cortex

在慢波睡眠期间，嗅觉皮层在功能上与外部气味世界隔离。然而，嗅觉皮层的神经元活动模式及其在慢波睡眠中的功能作用还没有得到很好的理解。在这里，我证明了在自由行为的大鼠中，前梨状皮质在慢波睡眠期间反复产生尖锐的波，伴随着许多皮质神经元的同步放电。嗅觉皮层的尖波驱动同步的自上而下的输入到嗅球。嗅觉皮层尖波可能代表了清醒前神经元激活模式的再激活，并参与了嗅觉皮层的记忆巩固过程。

The olfactory cortex is functionally isolated from the external odor world during slow-wave sleep. However, the neuronal activity pattern in the olfactory cortex and its functional role during slow-wave sleep were not well understood. Here, I demonstrated in freely behaving rats that the anterior piriform cortex repeatedly generated sharp waves accompanied by synchronized discharges of numerous cortical neurons during slow-wave sleep. The olfactory cortex sharp waves drove synchronized top-down inputs to the olfactory bulb. The olfactory cortex sharp waves may represent the reactivation of the neuronal activation pattern during preceding waking period and contribute to the memory consolidation process in the olfactory cortex.