| First Author | Morairty SR | Year | 2013 |
| Journal | Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A | Volume | 110 |
| Issue | 50 | Pages | 20272-7 |
| PubMed ID | 24191004 | Mgi Jnum | J:205036 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5543944 | Doi | 10.1073/pnas.1314762110 |
| Citation | Morairty SR, et al. (2013) A role for cortical nNOS/NK1 neurons in coupling homeostatic sleep drive to EEG slow wave activity. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 110(50):20272-7 |
| abstractText | Although the neural circuitry underlying homeostatic sleep regulation is little understood, cortical neurons immunoreactive for neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) and the neurokinin-1 receptor (NK1) have been proposed to be involved in this physiological process. By systematically manipulating the durations of sleep deprivation and subsequent recovery sleep, we show that activation of cortical nNOS/NK1 neurons is directly related to non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep time, NREM bout duration, and EEG delta power during NREM sleep, an index of preexisting homeostatic sleep drive. Conversely, nNOS knockout mice show reduced NREM sleep time, shorter NREM bouts, and decreased power in the low delta range during NREM sleep, despite constitutively elevated sleep drive. Cortical NK1 neurons are still activated in response to sleep deprivation in these mice but, in the absence of nNOS, they are unable to up-regulate NREM delta power appropriately. These findings support the hypothesis that cortical nNOS/NK1 neurons translate homeostatic sleep drive into up-regulation of NREM delta power through an NO-dependent mechanism. |
