Experimental sleep restriction increases latency jitter in pain elicited cortical responses

• Main Authors: J.O. Hansen, P.M. Omland, K.B. Nilsen, T. Sand, D. Matre
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2021-02-01
• Series: Heliyon
• Subjects: Sleep; Pain; Jitter; Event related potential; EEG; Cortical response
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844021002930

Objective: Previous studies have shown increased pain scores to painful stimulation after experimental sleep restriction, but reduced or unchanged magnitude of the event related potentials (ERPs) when averaged in the time-domain. However, some studies found increased response magnitude when averaging in the time-frequency domain. The aim of this study was to determine whether ERP-latency jitter may contribute to this discrepancy. Methods: Ninety painful electrical stimuli were given to 21 volunteers after two nights of 50% sleep restriction and after two nights of habitual sleep. ERPs were analyzed in the time-domain (N2-and P2-peaks) and time-frequency domain (power spectral density). We quantified latency jitter by the mean consecutive difference (MCD) between single-trial peak latencies and by phase locking value (PLV) across trials. Results: P2-MCD increased from 20.4 ± 2.1 ms after habitual sleep to 24.3 ± 2.2 ms after sleep restriction (19%, p = 0.038) and PLV decreased from 0.582 ± 0.015 after habitual sleep to 0.536 ± 0.015 after sleep restriction (7.9%, p = 0.009). We found no difference for N2-MCD. Conclusions: Our results indicate that partial sleep restriction increase latency jitter in cortical responses to experimental pain. Significance: Latency jitter may contribute to the discrepancies between ERP-responses in the time-frequency domain and time-domain. Latency jitter should be considered when ERPs are analyzed.