Sleep is necessary for experience-dependent sequence plasticity in mouse primary visual cortex

Study objectives: Repeated exposure to familiar visual sequences drives experience-dependent and sequence-specific plasticity in mouse primary visual cortex (V1). Prior work demonstrated a critical role for sleep in consolidating a related but mechanistically distinct form of experience-dependent plasticity in V1. Here, we assessed the role of sleep in consolidation of spatiotemporal sequence learning (sequence plasticity) in mouse V1. Methods: Visually evoked potentials (VEPs) were recorded in awake, head-fixed mice viewing sequences of four visual stimuli. Each sequence was presented 200 times per session, across multiple sessions, to drive plasticity. The effects of sleep consolidation time and sleep deprivation on plasticity were assessed. Results: Sequence plasticity occurred in V1 following as little as one hour of ad libitum sleep and increased with longer periods of sleep. Sleep deprivation blocked sequence plasticity consolidation, which recovered following subsequent sleep. Conclusions: Sleep is required for the consolidation of sequence plasticity in mouse V1.