美国宾夕法尼亚大学Franz Weber小组取得一项新突破。他们的研究发现前额叶皮质调控快速动眼睡眠(REM)。2023年9月21日，国际学术期刊《自然-神经科学》发表了这一成果。

研究人员发现小鼠中内侧前额叶皮层（mPFC）强烈促进REM睡眠。双向光遗传学操作表明，兴奋性mPFC神经元通过向外侧下丘脑的投射促进REM睡眠并调节相位事件，这反映在快速动眼睡眠期间脑电图θ振荡加速和眼球运动密度增加。钙成像表明，大多数下丘脑外侧投射的mPFC神经元在REM睡眠期间被最大限度地激活，并且在相位θ加速期间招募了一个亚群。

该研究结果揭示了用于自上而下控制REM睡眠的皮质-下丘脑回路，并确定mPFC在调节REM睡眠期间的关键作用。

研究人员表示，快速动眼睡眠伴随强烈的皮质活动，这是其产生尾流样脑电图的原因。一般认为起源于脑干和下丘脑的皮质下回路调节REM睡眠的神经活动。然而，皮质神经元是否也可以诱导REM睡眠仍然未知。

附：英文原文

Title: Prefrontal cortical regulation of REM sleep

Author: Hong, Jiso, Lozano, David E., Beier, Kevin T., Chung, Shinjae, Weber, Franz

Issue&Volume: 2023-09-21

Abstract: Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is accompanied by intense cortical activity, underlying its wake-like electroencephalogram. The neural activity inducing REM sleep is thought to originate from subcortical circuits in brainstem and hypothalamus. However, whether cortical neurons can also trigger REM sleep has remained unknown. Here we show in mice that the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) strongly promotes REM sleep. Bidirectional optogenetic manipulations demonstrate that excitatory mPFC neurons promote REM sleep through their projections to the lateral hypothalamus and regulate phasic events, reflected in accelerated electroencephalogram theta oscillations and increased eye movement density during REM sleep. Calcium imaging reveals that the majority of lateral hypothalamus-projecting mPFC neurons are maximally activated during REM sleep and a subpopulation is recruited during phasic theta accelerations. Our results delineate a cortico-hypothalamic circuit for the top-down control of REM sleep and identify a critical role of the mPFC in regulating phasic events during REM sleep.

DOI: 10.1038/s41593-023-01398-1

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-023-01398-1