Slow-wave oscillations of the multi-unit activity average frequency in the human brain during drowsiness and sleep.

Slow-wave oscillations of the mean frequency of multi-unit activity (MUA) were studied in the cerebral subcortical structures of parkinsonic and epileptic patients treated with the aid of implanted electrodes, during sleep, drowsiness and awakening. During slow-wave sleep, the MUA slow-wave oscillations become augmented, the number of oscillatory components increases as well as the amount of oscillations with identical or similar periods in different structures. During paradoxical sleep, the total amount of oscillatory components decreases. The MUA rhythmic activity is quite obvious in awakening from sleep, the short-period components prevailing. The data obtained reveal high incidence of the rhythms with periods of about 20 sec which is considered from the standpoint of the hypothetical adaptogenic rhythm in the CNS developing at the moments of certain efforts and adaptive activity of the organism.