ArticleSeminars in cell & developmental biology2022
The why and how of sleep-dependent synaptic down-selection.
Article in Seminars in cell & developmental biology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 44 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
44 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 68 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sleep deprivation and memory: Meta-analytic reviews of studies on sleep deprivation before and after learning.Psychological bulletin · 2021Pooled it
- Effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on cognition through sleep slow-wave activity in older adults.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation · 2026Trial
- Local autophagy impairment triggers brain-wide presynaptic remodeling and resilience.The EMBO journal · 2026Article
- The sleep-wake cycle: molecular mechanisms, disorders, and therapeutic targets in the context of energy metabolism.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2026Review
- Induction of cortical on/off periods in awake mice fulfills sleep functions.Nature neuroscience · 2026Article
- Excitation/Inhibition Balance as a Mechanistic Link Between Sleep Disturbance and Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Bidirectional Framework.Alpha psychiatry · 2026Review
- Thalamic involvement defines distinct slow-wave subtypes in NREM sleep.Communications biology · 2026Article
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- Rocking-induced sleep enhancement promotes motor learning through transcriptional and synaptic remodelling.Communications biology · 2026Article
- A hippocampal 'sharp-wave sleep' state that is dissociable from cortical sleep.Nature neuroscience · 2026Article
- The use ofFrontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2026Review
- Resting after learning or repeating the learned?Psychonomic bulletin & review · 2025Article
- Biological Mechanisms of Sleep/Wake-Related Function.Biological psychiatry · 2025Review
- Article
- Induction of cortical ON/OFF periods in awake mice fulfills sleep functions.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Infant sleep EEG features at 4 months as biomarkers of neurodevelopment at 18 months.Pediatric research · 2025Article
- Thalamic involvement defines distinct slow-wave subtypes in NREM sleep.Research square · 2025Article
- Article
- Thalamic involvement defines distinct slow-wave subtypes in NREM sleep.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Wake EEG oscillation dynamics reflect both sleep pressure and brain maturation across childhood and adolescence.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Sleep requires that we disconnect from the environment, losing the ability to promptly respond to stimuli. There must be at least one essential function that justifies why we take this risk every day, and that function must depend on the brain being offline. We have proposed that this function is to renormalize synaptic weights after learning has led to a net increase in synaptic strength in many brain circuits. Without this renormalization, synaptic activity would become energetically too expensive and saturation would prevent new learning. There is converging evidence from molecular, electrophysiological, and ultrastructural experiments showing a net increase in synaptic strength after the major wake phase, and a net decline after sleep. The evidence also suggests that sleep-dependent renormalization is a smart process of synaptic down-selection, comprehensive and yet specific, which could explain the many beneficial effects of sleep on cognition. Recently, a key molecular mechanism that allows broad synaptic weakening during sleep was identified. Other mechanisms still being investigated should eventually explain how sleep can weaken most synapses but afford protection to some, including those directly activated by learning. That synaptic down-selection takes place during sleep is by now established; why it should take place during sleep has a plausible explanation; how it happens is still work in progress.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.