Cognitive fatigue: an impaired cortical inhibitory replenishment

Claude Touzet (1)

1 LNIA - Laboratoire de Neurosciences intégratives et adaptatives

Cognitive fatigue is an important symptom of many brain diseases, including Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Cognitive fatigue shares many symptoms with chronic sleep deprivation, best described as cumulative excess wakefulness. If cognitive fatigue is caused by cumulative excess wakefulness, then – if the sleep duration is normal – the function of sleep itself must be impaired. Since sleep aims primarily to replenish the efficiency of cortical inhibitory synapses, it follows that TBI and MS must affect NonREM sleep (light and slow wave sleeps). Strategies providing a more efficient NonREM sleep could demonstrate some therapeutic action against cognitive fatigue.

Keywords: cognitive fatigue; partial sleep restriction; cumulative excess wakefulness; cortical inhibitory replenishment; SWS; NonREM sleep

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Human health and pathology; Tissues and Organs [q-bio.TO]; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]; Psychology and behavior; Cognitive science; Neuroscience

Claude Touzet. Cognitive fatigue: an impaired cortical inhibitory replenishment. Brain Injury, 2017, 8, pp.1 - 7. ⟨10.1080/02699052.2017.1344300⟩. ⟨hal-01573271⟩