GABAergic neurons in the rostromedial tegmental nucleus are essential for rapid eye movement sleep suppression.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 36477665.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-022-35299-x and PMC identifier 9729601.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep disturbances are prevalent in various psychiatric disorders. However, the neural circuits that regulate REM sleep remain poorly understood. Here, we found that in male mice, optogenetic activation of rostromedial tegmental nucleus (RMTg) GABAergic neurons immediately converted REM sleep to arousal and then initiated non-REM (NREM) sleep. Conversely, laser-mediated inactivation completely converted NREM to REM sleep and prolonged REM sleep duration. The activity of RMTg GABAergic neurons increased to a high discharge level at the termination of REM sleep. RMTg GABAergic neurons directly converted REM sleep to wakefulness and NREM sleep via inhibitory projections to the laterodorsal tegmentum (LDT) and lateral hypothalamus (LH), respectively. Furthermore, LDT glutamatergic neurons were responsible for the REM sleep-wake transitions following photostimulation of the RMTg<sup>GABA</sup>-LDT circuit. Thus, RMTg GABAergic neurons are essential for suppressing the induction and maintenance of REM sleep.
Medical subject headings
- Sleep, REM