TUBEROMAMMILLARY NUCLEUS AND SLEEP/WAKE REGULATION

描述(申请人摘要)：长期的研究表明，头侧下丘脑促进睡眠，而尾侧下丘脑促进清醒。我的研究顾问最近发现，腹外侧视前区(VLPO)中的神经元可能取代了下丘脑头端的睡眠促进作用。这些神经元向下丘脑尾侧结构结节乳头核(TMN)发送抑制性投射。TMN的作用尚不清楚，但我们认为它促进觉醒，并反过来向VLPO发送抑制性投射，从而定义了睡眠和促进觉醒结构之间相互拮抗的电路。这一模型表明，睡眠-觉醒状态由一对相互竞争的神经系统定义，并与睡眠-觉醒调节障碍(如发作性睡病)有关。

DESCRIPTION (applicant's abstract): A long history of studies have suggested that the rostral hypothalamus promotes sleep, while the caudal hypothalamus promotes waking. My research advisor recently identified neurons in the ventrolateral preoptic area (VLPO) that may subserve the rostral hypothalamic sleep-promoting role. These neurons send inhibitory projections to a caudal hypothalamic structure, the tuberomammillary nucleus (TMN). The role of the TMN is unclear, but we propose that it promotes waking, and that it in turn sends inhibitory projections to the VLPO, thus defining a circuit with mutual antagonism between sleep and wake-promoting structures. This model suggests that the sleep-wake state is defined by a pair of competing neural systems, and has implications for disorders of sleep-wake regulation such as narcolepsy.