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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Sleep Sci 2021; 14(03): 201-206
DOI: 10.5935/1984-0063.20200059
ORIGINAL ARTICLES

Analysis of sleep spindles in children with Asperger’s syndrome

Rodolfo Cebreros-Paniagua
1   National Autonomous University of Mexico, Psychology Faculty - Mexico City - Mexico.
,
Fructuoso Ayala-Guerrero
1   National Autonomous University of Mexico, Psychology Faculty - Mexico City - Mexico.
,
Erik Leonardo Mateos-Salgado
1   National Autonomous University of Mexico, Psychology Faculty - Mexico City - Mexico.
,
Christopher Isaac Villamar-Flores
1   National Autonomous University of Mexico, Psychology Faculty - Mexico City - Mexico.
,
Carlos Alberto Gutiérrez-Chávez
2   Autonomous University of the State of Mexico, Psychology Faculty - Toluca - State of Mexico - Mexico.
,
Ulises Jiménez-Correa
3   National Autonomous University of Mexico, Sleep Disorders Clinic, Medicine Faculty, Research Division - Mexico City - Mexico.
4   National Autonomous University of Mexico, Postgraduate Program in Behavioral Neuroscience, Psychology Faculty - Mexico City - Mexico.
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ABSTRACT

Sleep spindles are an element of the sleep microstructure observed on the EEG during the NREM sleep phase. Sleep spindles are associated to sleep stability functions as well as memory consolidation and optimization of different cognitive processes. On the other hand, Asperger’s syndrome (AS) is a generalized developmental disorder in which cognitive and sleep disturbances have been described. In this study we analyzed different characteristics of sleep spindles in a group of children with AS and compared them with sleep spindles of a group of children with typical development paired by age; both groups ranged from 6 to 12 years of age and were all male. We observed a statistically significant decrease in sleep spindles intrinsic frequency in different brain regions in the AS group in relation to the typical development group. This finding could be due to immaturity in brain regions related to the integration of sleep spindles; and this immaturity could be related with cognitive aspects in these patients.

Keywords:

Sleep Spindle - Asperger’s Syndrome - Neurodevelopmental Disorders


Publication History

Received: 14 July 2020

Accepted: 21 September 2020

Article published online:
30 November 2023

© 2021. Brazilian Sleep Association. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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