Recent studies on the effects of sleep deprivation on synaptic plasticity have yielded discrepant results. Sleep deprivation studies using novelty exposure as a means to keep animals awake suggests that sleep (compared with wake) leads to widespread reductions in net synaptic strength. By contrast, sleep deprivation studies using approaches avoiding novelty-induced arousal (i.e., gentle handling) suggest that sleep can promote synaptic growth and strengthening. How can these discrepant findings be reconciled? Here, we discuss how varying methodologies for the experimental disruption of sleep (with differential introduction of novel experiences) could fundamentally alter the experimental outcome with regard to synaptic plasticity. Thus, data from experiments aimed at assessing the relative impact of sleep versus wake on the brain may instead reflect the quality of the waking experience itself. The highlighted work suggests that brain plasticity resulting from novel experiences versus wake per se has unique and distinct features.

中文翻译：

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睡眠不足与清醒经验对大脑可塑性的影响：平行还是正交？

最近关于睡眠剥夺对突触可塑性影响的研究产生了不一致的结果。使用新奇暴露作为保持动物清醒的一种手段的睡眠剥夺研究表明，睡眠（与清醒相比）导致净突触强度的广泛降低。相比之下，使用避免新奇引起的唤醒（即温和处理）方法的睡眠剥夺研究表明，睡眠可以促进突触生长和加强。如何调和这些不一致的发现？在这里，我们讨论了不同的睡眠实验中断方法（新体验的不同引入）如何从根本上改变关于突触可塑性的实验结果。因此，旨在评估睡眠与清醒对大脑的相对影响的实验数据可能反而反映了清醒体验本身的质量。突出显示的工作表明，由新体验与觉醒本身引起的大脑可塑性具有独特而鲜明的特征。