ArticleCommunications biology2026
Thalamic involvement defines distinct slow-wave subtypes in NREM sleep.
Article in Communications biology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- A hypothalamic-brainstem activity sequence underlies arousal fluctuations during daytime drowsiness.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Slow wave canonical activity deviation concept: Toward a slow wave-based EEG-fMRI reference map for health-associated network function.iScience · 2026Article
- Sleep Slow-Wave and Spindle Alterations in Young Smokers Correlated With the Severity of Cigarette Exposure.Addiction biology · 2026Article
- Cortical firing dynamics during micro-arousals vary with sleep/wake history and micro-arousal duration.Scientific reports · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
- Update of
- Update of
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Slow waves (0.5-2 Hz) are a key feature of non-rapid-eye-movement (NREM) sleep, traditionally believed to arise from neocortical circuits. However, growing evidence suggests that subcortical structures, particularly the thalamus, may play a crucial role in initiating and synchronizing slow waves. We tested the hypothesis that single slow waves may arise from distinct cortico-cortical and thalamo-cortical mechanisms using simultaneous EEG-fMRI in healthy adults. Spatial mapping based on thalamic fMRI responses revealed two types of slow-waves. A first type (C1) characterized by an early thalamic fMRI-signal increase, corresponded to large, efficiently synchronized waves associated with sleep spindles and with markers of higher arousal and autonomic activation. The second type (C2) is marked by an initial negative fMRI response and corresponds to smaller slow waves potentially resulting from cortico-cortical synchronization. These waves occur more often during phases of stable NREM sleep. These findings highlight distinct slow-wave subtypes with different thalamic involvement and, potentially, synchronization mechanisms.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.