Relación entre la actividad electromiográfica de la musculatura facial y los movimientos oculares rápidos con el contenido emocional de las ensoñaciones del sueño mor y su papel como marcadores del trastorno depresivo mayor en mujeres

Abstract

Introduction: The rapid eye movement sleep (REM sleep) is a complex physiological state, characterized by the appearance of rapid eye movements (MO) associated with the appearance of dreams with greater content, as well as by an inhibition of antigravity muscles. However, despite muscular atony, during this same stage of sleep, in healthy subjects have been observed specific activations of the facial muscles responsible for emotional expression in wakefulness (mimetic), which could be associated with the modality (valence) and emotional intensity (arousal) of dreams, thus being an affective biomarker during sleep. Depression, on the other hand, is one of the most heterogeneous clinical pictures in its symptomatology. Several studies have analyzed the influence of the development and appearance of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) on different components, both phasic and tonic REM sleep, however, the data available to date have not allowed to reach definitive conclusions regarding one or several specific affective biomarkers during sleep. In this paper we propose that facial muscle contractions (FMC), the emotional content of sleep and its possible association in patients with MDD can serve as a reliable affective biomarker in major depression. Objective: To analyze FMC during REM sleep in women with MDD and its association with the emotional content of sleep compared to female controls. Method: Two PSG records of standard 8-h sleep were obtained from 10 healthy women and 10 women with MDD without treatment. Facial EMG records of the right and left corrugator and zygomatic muscles were acquired. The experimental awakenings that explored the emotional content of the dream were carried out during the stages of REM sleep in vivo that lasted at least three minutes.