Evaluating the Evidence Surrounding Pontine Cholinergic Involvement in REM Sleep Generation.

Autor: Grace KP; Department of Medicine, University of Toronto , Toronto, ON , Canada., Horner RL; Department of Medicine, University of Toronto , Toronto, ON , Canada ; Department of Physiology, University of Toronto , Toronto, ON , Canada.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Frontiers in neurology [Front Neurol] 2015 Sep 01; Vol. 6, pp. 190. Date of Electronic Publication: 2015 Sep 01 (Print Publication: 2015).
DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2015.00190
Abstrakt: Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep - characterized by vivid dreaming, motor paralysis, and heightened neural activity - is one of the fundamental states of the mammalian central nervous system. Initial theories of REM sleep generation posited that induction of the state required activation of the "pontine REM sleep generator" by cholinergic inputs. Here, we review and evaluate the evidence surrounding cholinergic involvement in REM sleep generation. We submit that: (i) the capacity of pontine cholinergic neurotransmission to generate REM sleep has been firmly established by gain-of-function experiments, (ii) the function of endogenous cholinergic input to REM sleep generating sites cannot be determined by gain-of-function experiments; rather, loss-of-function studies are required, (iii) loss-of-function studies show that endogenous cholinergic input to the PTF is not required for REM sleep generation, and (iv) cholinergic input to the pontine REM sleep generating sites serve an accessory role in REM sleep generation: reinforcing non-REM-to-REM sleep transitions making them quicker and less likely to fail.
Databáze: MEDLINE