Local hippocampal fast gamma rhythms precede brain-wide hyperemic patterns during spontaneous rodent REM sleep

Rapid eye movement sleep (REMS) is a peculiar brain state combining the behavioral components of sleep and the electrophysiological profiles of wake. After decades of research our understanding of REMS still is precluded by the difficulty to observe its spontaneous dynamics and the lack of multimodal recording approaches to build comprehensive datasets. We used functional ultrasound (fUS) imaging concurrently with extracellular recordings of local field potentials (LFP) to reveal brain-wide spatiotemporal hemodynamics of single REMS episodes. We demonstrate for the first time the close association between global hyperemic events – largely outmatching wake levels in most brain regions – and local hippocampal theta (6–10 Hz) and fast gamma (80–110 Hz) events in the CA1 region. In particular, the power of fast gamma oscillations strongly correlated with the amplitude of subsequent vascular events. Our findings challenge our current understanding of neurovascular coupling and question the evolutionary benefit of such energy-demanding patterns in REMS function.