Neural Mechanisms of Sleep Apnea

在氟烷麻醉下，动物在丘前-哺乳期后水平去大脑。将玻璃绝缘钨微电极插入桥中背侧被盖。对DTF区进行强直电刺激，证实刺激效果。DTF刺激引起姿势音和呼吸的同时抑制。然后将另一个微电极插入脑桥顶部网状结构，用于记录功能。以每秒一次的速度刺激DTF，在吻侧桥内可观察到逆行激活的神经元。逆行激活神经元位于脑桥口侧网状核(POO)。这些神经元几乎没有自发放电。在大便周围或附近的脑桥网状结构微量注射胆碱能激动剂卡巴胆碱，可引起姿势张力和呼吸的平行抑制，其效果与刺激DTF所引起的效果非常相似。Hobson等人。报道称，在粪便中注射卡巴胆碱后，这只猫进入了快速眼动睡眠状态。我们已经阐明，存在一条下行抑制通路，负责全身性运动抑制。该通路起源于POO内的神经元，经DTF区下行至脊髓。所有这些发现表明，本研究中发现的抑制系统可能会在睡眠期间提高其活性，特别是在快速眼动睡眠期间，并可能导致中枢冷敏受损时的睡眠呼吸暂停。

Under halothane anesthesia, the animal was decerebrated at the precollicular-postmammillary level. The glass-insulated tungsten microelectrode was inserted into the midpontine dorsal tegmentum (DTF). Tonic electrical stimulation was delivered to the DTF area, and the stimulus effects were confirmed. DTF stimulation evoked simultaneous suppression of postural tone and respiration. The another microelecrode was then inserted into the rostral pontine reticular formation, and was used for a recording function. DTF was stimulated at once per second, and the antidromically activated neurons were identified within the rostral pons. The antidromically activated neurons were located in the nucleus reticularis pontis oralis (PoO). Such neurons had little spontaneous discharges. A microinjection of carbachol, a cholinergic agonist, into the pontine reticular formation around or near the PoO resulted in the parallel suppression of postural tone and respiration, and the effects were very similar to those elicited by DTF stimulation. Hobson et al. reported that a carbachol injection into the PoO have led the animal to a REM sleep in chronic cats. We have already clarified that there exists a descending inhibitory pathway responsible for generalized motor suppression. The pathway originates from the neurons in the PoO and descends to the spinal cord via DTF area. All these findings lead us to suggest that the inhibitory system identified in this study may raise its activity during sleep, especially during REM sleep, and may result in the sleep apnea when the central chmosensitivity is damaged.