德国马克斯·普朗克研究所Gilles Laurent和Lorenz A. Fenk课题组的研究表明，中枢模式发生器控制脊椎动物的超昼夜睡眠节律。2024年11月6日，国际学术期刊《自然》发表了这一成果。

据悉，哺乳动物超昼夜节律——快速眼动（REM）和慢波（SW）状态的交替——的内在机制尚不十分清楚，但可能脑干回路部分参与该调控。

研究人员利用扰动实验来探究鬃狮蜥（Pogona vitticeps）的超昼夜节律，并验证了这种节律起源于中枢模式发生器的假设——该电路通常容易受到外部刺激相位复位和夹带影响。利用光脉冲，研究发现鬃狮蜥的超昼夜节律能以相位依赖的方式复位，在慢波中期出现从相位延迟到相位提前的临界过渡。

超昼夜节律的频率可以通过光脉冲诱导在一定范围内降低或提高。在夹带过程中，鬃狮快速眼动可以缩短，但不能延长，而慢波可以更灵活地扩张。在清醒动物中，几个与自然REMP和SW持续时间相匹配的光/暗交替时间，会诱导出类似睡眠的大脑节律，这表明超昼夜节律发生器被短暂激活。

在熟睡的动物中，光脉冲照射到单眼会立即导致超昼夜节律重置，但仅限于对侧半球；两侧半球会自发地重新同步，这表明睡眠是由与功能性兴奋相联系的成对节律产生的回路控制的。该研究结果表明，通常用于控制运动节律的中枢模式发生器，也可以调控脊椎动物的超昼夜睡眠节律。

附：英文原文

Title: Central pattern generator control of a vertebrate ultradian sleep rhythm

Author: Fenk, Lorenz A., Riquelme, Juan Luis, Laurent, Gilles

Issue&Volume: 2024-11-06

Abstract: The mechanisms underlying the mammalian ultradian sleep rhythm—the alternation of rapid-eye-movement (REM) and slow-wave (SW) states—are not well understood but probably depend, at least in part, on circuits in the brainstem1,2,3,4,5,6. Here, we use perturbation experiments to probe this ultradian rhythm in sleeping lizards (Pogona vitticeps)7,8,9 and test the hypothesis that it originates in a central pattern generator10,11—circuits that are typically susceptible to phase-dependent reset and entrainment by external stimuli12. Using light pulses, we find that Pogona’s ultradian rhythm8 can be reset in a phase-dependent manner, with a critical transition from phase delay to phase advance in the middle of SW. The ultradian rhythm frequency can be decreased or increased, within limits, by entrainment with light pulses. During entrainment, Pogona REM (REMP) can be shortened but not lengthened, whereas SW can be dilated more flexibly. In awake animals, a few alternating light/dark epochs matching natural REMP and SW durations entrain a sleep-like brain rhythm, suggesting the transient activation of an ultradian rhythm generator. In sleeping animals, a light pulse delivered to a single eye causes an immediate ultradian rhythm reset, but only of the contralateral hemisphere; both sides resynchronize spontaneously, indicating that sleep is controlled by paired rhythm-generating circuits linked by functional excitation. Our results indicate that central pattern generators of a type usually known to control motor rhythms may also organize the ultradian sleep rhythm in a vertebrate.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08162-w

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08162-w