Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States.
Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States.
Neurosci Lett. 2021 Jan 1;740:135362. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2020.135362. Epub 2020 Nov 6.
Nitric oxide (NO) has been implicated as an important neurotransmitter in stress responses and sleep regulatory processes. However, the role of NO in the relationship between stress and sleep remains unclear. The medial septum (MS) and vertical diagonal band (VDB), regions of the basal forebrain involved in sleep regulation, contain nitric oxide synthase (NOS) producing neurons. Additionally, NOS neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) encode information about stress duration. The role of nitrergic neurons in these regions in subserving sex-specific responses to stress and sleep loss has yet to be elucidated. In this study, NADPH-d, an index of NOS activity, was used to examine the effects of acute restraint stress and sleep loss on NOS activity in the MS, VDB, and DRN. We show that NOS activity in response to restraint stress, total sleep deprivation (TSD), and partial sleep restriction (PSR) differs based on sex and region. Initial analysis showed no effect of restraint stress or TSD on NOS activity in the basal forebrain. However, investigation of each sex separately revealed that restraint stress and TSD significantly decrease NOS activity in the MS of females, but not males. Interestingly, the difference in NOS activity between restraint stress and TSD in females was not significant. Furthermore, PSR was not sufficient to affect NOS activity in males or females. These data suggest that restraint stress and sleep loss regulate NOS activation in a sex-dependent manner, and that the NOS stress response in females may be mediated by sleep loss.
一氧化氮（NO）被认为是应激反应和睡眠调节过程中的一种重要神经递质。然而，NO 在应激与睡眠之间的关系中的作用尚不清楚。中隔（MS）和垂直对角带（VDB）是参与睡眠调节的基底前脑区域，含有产生一氧化氮合酶（NOS）的神经元。此外，中缝背核（DRN）中的 NOS 神经元编码有关应激持续时间的信息。这些区域中的 nitrergic 神经元在调节应激和睡眠剥夺的性别特异性反应中的作用尚未阐明。在这项研究中，NADPH-d，NOS 活性的指标，用于检查急性束缚应激和睡眠剥夺对 MS、VDB 和 DRN 中 NOS 活性的影响。我们表明，NOS 活性对束缚应激、总睡眠剥夺（TSD）和部分睡眠限制（PSR）的反应因性别和区域而异。初步分析显示，束缚应激或 TSD 对基底前脑的 NOS 活性没有影响。然而，分别对每个性别进行研究表明，束缚应激和 TSD 显著降低了雌性 MS 中的 NOS 活性，但对雄性没有影响。有趣的是，雌性中束缚应激和 TSD 之间 NOS 活性的差异不显著。此外，PSR 不足以影响雄性或雌性的 NOS 活性。这些数据表明，束缚应激和睡眠剥夺以性别依赖的方式调节 NOS 激活，而雌性的 NOS 应激反应可能是由睡眠剥夺介导的。
