| First Author | Han Y | Year | 2014 |
| Journal | Curr Biol | Volume | 24 |
| Issue | 6 | Pages | 693-8 |
| PubMed ID | 24613308 | Mgi Jnum | J:252140 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5925937 | Doi | 10.1016/j.cub.2014.02.011 |
| Citation | Han Y, et al. (2014) Selective activation of cholinergic basal forebrain neurons induces immediate sleep-wake transitions. Curr Biol 24(6):693-8 |
| abstractText | The basal forebrain (BF) plays a crucial role in cortical activation [1, 2]. However, the exact role of cholinergic BF (ch-BF) neurons in the sleep-wake cycle remains unclear [3, 4]. We demonstrated that photostimulation of ch-BF neurons genetically targeted with channelrhodopsin 2 (ChR2) was sufficient to induce an immediate transition to waking or rapid eye movement (REM) sleep from slow-wave sleep (SWS). Light stimulation was most likely to induce behavioral arousal during SWS, but not during REM sleep, a result in contrast to the previously reported photostimulation of noradrenergic or hypocretin neurons that induces wake transitions from both SWS and REM sleep. Furthermore, the ratio of light-induced transitions from SWS to wakefulness or to REM sleep did not significantly differ from that of natural transitions, suggesting that activation of ch-BF neurons facilitates the transition from SWS but does not change the direction of the transition. Excitation of ch-BF neurons during wakefulness or REM sleep sustained the cortical activation. Stimulation of these neurons for 1 hr induced a delayed increase in the duration of wakefulness in the subsequent inactive period. Our results suggest that activation of ch-BF neurons alone is sufficient to suppress SWS and promote wakefulness and REM sleep. |
