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[Perspective] Synaptic scaling in sleep

ScienceNOW - Fetched: February 2nd, 2017, 3:00pm UTC

Sleep appears to be a universal phenomenon in the animal kingdom (1) and lack of sleep leads to severe cognitive disruption (2). Yet, the biological function of sleep is unknown. On pages 507 and 511 of this issue, de Vivo et al. (3) and Diering et al. (4), respectively, provide a peek into the nightlife of synapses, the neural connections in the nervous system. The studies reveal substantial alterations in the structure and molecular machinery of synapses during sleep. Authors: László Acsády, Kenneth D. Harris

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