Rapid eye movement sleep affects interictal epileptic activity differently in mesiotemporal and neocortical areas.

Our results demonstrate a spatiotemporal effect of IED suppression by REM sleep relative to wakefulness in neocortical, but not mesiotemporal regions, and in late versus early sleep. This suggests the importance of considering sleep stage interactions and the potential influences of anatomical locations when using IEDs to define the epileptic focus.