Wakefulness suppresses retinal wave-related neural activity in visual cortex

Abstract

By recording in visual cortex in unanesthetized infant rats, we show that neural activity attributable to retinal waves is specifically suppressed when pups spontaneously awaken or are experimentally aroused. These findings suggest that the relatively abundant sleep of early development plays a permissive functional role for the visual system. It follows, then, that biological or environmental factors that disrupt sleep may interfere with the development of these neural networks.