TUBEROMAMMILLARY NUCLEUS AND SLEEP/WAKE REGULATION

描述（申请人摘要）：长期以来的研究表明，吻侧下丘脑促进睡眠，而尾侧下丘脑促进清醒。我的研究导师最近发现腹外侧视前区（VLPO）的神经元可能支持下丘脑吻侧促进睡眠的作用。这些神经元将抑制性投射发送到下丘脑尾侧结构，结节乳头核（TMN）。TMN的作用尚不清楚，但我们认为它促进清醒，并反过来向VLPO发送抑制性投射，从而在睡眠和促进清醒的结构之间定义了一个相互拮抗的电路。该模型表明，睡眠-觉醒状态是由一对相互竞争的神经系统定义的，并且对睡眠-觉醒调节障碍（如嗜睡症）有影响。

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.