Department of Pharmacology, School of Basic Medical Sciences; State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, and Institutes of Brain Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China.
Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China.
Nat Commun. 2023 Apr 24;14(1):2346. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-37797-y.
The parasubthalamic nucleus (PSTN) is considered to be involved in motivation, feeding and hunting, all of which are highly depending on wakefulness. However, the roles and underlying neural circuits of the PSTN in wakefulness remain unclear. Neurons expressing calretinin (CR) account for the majority of PSTN neurons. In this study in male mice, fiber photometry recordings showed that the activity of PSTN neurons increased at the transitions from non-rapid eye movement (non-REM, NREM) sleep to either wakefulness or REM sleep, as well as exploratory behavior. Chemogenetic and optogenetic experiments demonstrated that PSTN neurons were necessary for initiating and/or maintaining arousal associated with exploration. Photoactivation of projections of PSTN neurons revealed that they regulated exploration-related wakefulness by innervating the ventral tegmental area. Collectively, our findings indicate that PSTN circuitry is essential for the induction and maintenance of the awake state associated with exploration.
底丘脑核（PSTN）被认为参与动机、进食和狩猎，所有这些都高度依赖于觉醒状态。然而，PSTN 在觉醒状态中的作用和潜在神经回路仍不清楚。表达钙结合蛋白（CR）的神经元占 PSTN 神经元的大多数。在这项针对雄性小鼠的研究中，光纤光度记录显示，PSTN 神经元的活动在非快速眼动（非 REM，NREM）睡眠向觉醒或 REM 睡眠以及探索行为的转变过程中增加。化学遗传学和光遗传学实验表明，PSTN 神经元对于与探索相关的觉醒的起始和/或维持是必需的。PSTN 神经元投射的光激活表明，它们通过支配腹侧被盖区来调节与探索相关的觉醒。总的来说，我们的研究结果表明，PSTN 回路对于与探索相关的诱导和维持清醒状态是必不可少的。
