Bridging the gap between electrical and molecular sleep functions in the brain

睡眠有助于保持大脑健康。据信，这与大脑中一种名为神经胶质的细胞有关，这种细胞在深度睡眠时优化神经元之间的通信。目前还不清楚神经胶质细胞如何“知道”整个大脑需要进行多少优化。我们已经在微小的果蝇大脑中发现了类似的睡眠机制，并将利用其强大的遗传资源和全脑成像技术来了解这种新发现的神经胶质睡眠功能是如何工作的。

Sleep helps keep our brains healthy. This is believed to involve cells in the brain called glia, which optimise the communication between neurons during deep sleep. It is unknown how glial cells ‘know’ how much optimisation is needed throughout the brain. We have discovered similar sleep mechanisms in the tiny fruit fly brain, and will use its powerful genetic resources and whole-brain imaging technology to understand how this newly discovered glial sleep function works.