High amplitude theta wave bursts: A novel electroencephalographic feature of REM sleep and cataplexy

In 2012, high amplitude theta wave bursts (HATs) were originally described during REMS and cataplexy in ORX-deficient mice as a novel neurophysiological correlate of narcolepsy (Bastianini et al., 2012). This finding was replicated the following year by Vassalli et al. in both ORX-deficient narcoleptic mice and narcoleptic children during cataplexy episodes (Vassalli et al., 2013). The relationship between HATs and narcolepsy-cataplexy in mice and patients indicates that the lack of ORX peptides is responsible for this abnormal EEG activity, the physiological meaning of which is still unknown. This review aimed to explore different phasic EEG events previously described in the published literature in order to find analogies and differences with HATs observed in narcoleptic mice and patients. We found similarities in terms of morphology, frequency and duration between HATs and several physiological (mu and wicket rhythms, sleep spindles, saw-tooth waves) or pathological (SWDs, HVSs, bursts of polyphasic complexes EEG complexes reported in a mouse model of CJD, and BSEs) EEG events. However, each of these events also shows significant differences from HATs, and thus cannot be equaled to them. The available evidence thus suggests that HATs are a novel neurophysiological phenomenon. Further investigations on HATs are required in order to investigate their physiological meaning, to individuate their brain structure(s) of origin, and to clarify the neural circuits involved in their manifestation.