科學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)了慢波睡眠中在大腦皮層中活躍的神經(jīng)元，這可能對(duì)于治療失眠癥等睡眠疾病以及理解諸如情緒和記憶等依賴于睡眠的活動(dòng)具有重要意義,。Dmitry Gerashchenko及其同事報(bào)告說,，包含了罕見的一組神經(jīng)元的皮層在自然睡眠以及剝奪睡眠之后發(fā)生的恢復(fù)睡眠過程中是活躍的,。這組作者發(fā)現(xiàn)了一種制造一氧化氮（NO）——這是一種調(diào)控大腦血流的因子——的特殊類型的皮層神經(jīng)元，而且它們?cè)谛∈蟆⒋笫蠛蛡}鼠的慢波睡眠過程中在皮層中是活躍的。相關(guān)論文發(fā)表在美國(guó)《國(guó)家科學(xué)院院刊》（PNAS）上,。
此前的研究假定，慢波活動(dòng)（SWA）——正在睡眠的大腦的標(biāo)志——與睡眠的恢復(fù)屬性以及大腦的學(xué)習(xí)能力有關(guān)聯(lián),。已經(jīng)在前腦和下丘腦中發(fā)現(xiàn)了特別在睡眠過程中活躍的神經(jīng)元的群體,。然而，迄今為止,，這個(gè)皮層在SWA中擔(dān)任的角色仍然是一個(gè)謎,，因?yàn)樗械钠蛹?xì)胞被認(rèn)為在慢波睡眠中都是靜止的。這組作者提出,，由于這些神經(jīng)元也存在于人類大腦中,，它們很可能也在人類的睡眠過程中活躍。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原始出處：
PNAS,，doi: 10.1073/pnas.0803125105,，Dmitry Gerashchenko，Thomas S. Kilduff
Identification of a population of sleep-active cerebral cortex neurons
Dmitry Gerashchenko*, Jonathan P. Wisor*, Deirdre Burns*, Rebecca K. Reh†, Priyattam J. Shiromani‡, Takeshi Sakurai§, Horacio O. de la Iglesia†, and Thomas S. Kilduff*,¶
+Author Affiliations
*Biosciences Division, SRI International, Menlo Park, CA 94025;
†Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-1800;
‡Department of Neurology, West Roxbury VA Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, 1400 VFW Parkway, West Roxbury, MA 02132; and
§Department of Molecular Neuroscience and Integrative Physiology, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa 920-8640, Japan
Edited by Sacha B. Nelson, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, and accepted by the Editorial Board May 23, 2008 (received for review March 30, 2008)
Abstract
The presence of large-amplitude, slow waves in the EEG is a primary characteristic that distinguishes cerebral activity during sleep from that which occurs during wakefulness. Although sleep-active neurons have been identified in other brain areas, neurons that are specifically activated during slow-wave sleep have not previously been described in the cerebral cortex. We have identified a population of cells in the cortex that is activated during sleep in three mammalian species. These cortical neurons are a subset of GABAergic interneurons that express neuronal NOS (nNOS). Because Fos expression in these sleep-active, nNOS-immunoreactive (nNOS-ir) neurons parallels changes in the intensity of slow-wave activity in the EEG, and these neurons are innvervated by neurotransmitter systems previously implicated in sleep/wake control, cortical nNOS-ir neurons may be part of the neurobiological substrate that underlies homeostatic sleep regulation.
