| First Author | Gerashchenko D | Year | 2008 |
| Journal | Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A | Volume | 105 |
| Issue | 29 | Pages | 10227-32 |
| PubMed ID | 18645184 | Mgi Jnum | J:138320 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3804783 | Doi | 10.1073/pnas.0803125105 |
| Citation | Gerashchenko D, et al. (2008) Identification of a population of sleep-active cerebral cortex neurons. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 105(29):10227-32 |
| abstractText | The presence of large-amplitude, slow waves in the EEG is a primary characteristic that distinguishes cerebral activity during sleep from that which occurs during wakefulness. Although sleep-active neurons have been identified in other brain areas, neurons that are specifically activated during slow-wave sleep have not previously been described in the cerebral cortex. We have identified a population of cells in the cortex that is activated during sleep in three mammalian species. These cortical neurons are a subset of GABAergic interneurons that express neuronal NOS (nNOS). Because Fos expression in these sleep-active, nNOS-immunoreactive (nNOS-ir) neurons parallels changes in the intensity of slow-wave activity in the EEG, and these neurons are innvervated by neurotransmitter systems previously implicated in sleep/wake control, cortical nNOS-ir neurons may be part of the neurobiological substrate that underlies homeostatic sleep regulation. |
