美国加州大学Yang Dan课题组开发出睡眠依赖性生长激素释放的神经内分泌回路。相关论文于2025年6月24日发表于国际顶尖学术期刊《细胞》杂志上。

研究组展示了生长激素释放在快速眼动（REM）和非快速眼动（NREM）睡眠期间增强，是如何受到表达GH释放激素（GHRH）和生长抑素（SST）的不同下丘脑神经元的睡眠-觉醒依赖活动的调节的。弓形核核中的SST神经元通过抑制附近刺激GH释放的GHRH神经元来抑制GH释放，而脑室周围的SST神经元通过投射到正中隆起来抑制GH释放。生长激素释放与快速眼动睡眠期间GHRH和SST活动的强烈激增有关，但在非快速眼动睡眠期间GHRH的适度增加和SST活动的减少有关。

此外，该团队还发现了一个负反馈通路，在这个通路中，生长激素增强了局部蓝体神经元的兴奋性，并增加了清醒程度。这些结果阐明了睡眠和激素调节之间双向相互作用的电路机制。

据了解，众所周知，睡眠可以促进组织生长和调节新陈代谢，部分是通过促进生长激素（GH）的释放，但潜在的电路机制尚不清楚。

附：英文原文

Title: Neuroendocrine circuit for sleep-dependent growth hormone release

Author: Xinlu Ding, Fuu-Jiun Hwang, Daniel Silverman, Peng Zhong, Bing Li, Chenyan Ma, Lihui Lu, Grace Jiang, Zhe Zhang, Xiaolin Huang, Xun Tu, Zhiyu Melissa Tian, Jun Ding, Yang Dan

Issue&Volume: 2025-06-24

Abstract: Sleep is known to promote tissue growth and regulate metabolism, partly by enhancing growth hormone (GH) release, but the underlying circuit mechanism is unknown. We demonstrate how GH release, which is enhanced during both rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM (NREM) sleep, is regulated by sleep-wake-dependent activity of distinct hypothalamic neurons expressing GH-releasing hormone (GHRH) and somatostatin (SST). SST neurons in the arcuate nucleus suppress GH release by inhibiting nearby GHRH neurons that stimulate GH release, whereas periventricular SST neurons inhibit GH release by projecting to the median eminence. GH release is associated with strong surges of both GHRH and SST activity during REM sleep but moderately increased GHRH and decreased SST activity during NREM sleep. Furthermore, we identified a negative feedback pathway in which GH enhances the excitability of locus coeruleus neurons and increases wakefulness. These results elucidate a circuit mechanism underlying bidirectional interactions between sleep and hormone regulation.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2025.05.039

Source: https://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(25)00626-9