title: The rat ponto-medullary network responsible for paradoxical sleep onset and maintenance: a combined microinjection and functional neuroanatomical study.
abstract: The neuronal network responsible for paradoxical sleep (PS) onset and maintenance has not previously been identified in the rat, unlike the cat. To fill this gap, this study has developed a new technique involving the recording of sleep-wake states in unanaesthetized head-restrained rats whilst locally administering pharmacological agents by microiontophoresis from glass multibarrel micropipettes, into the dorsal pontine tegmentum and combining this with functional neuroanatomy. Pharmacological agents used for iontophoretic administration included carbachol, kainic acid, bicuculline and gabazine. The injection sites and their efferents were then identified by injections of anterograde (phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin) or retrograde (cholera toxin B subunit) tracers through an adjacent barrel of the micropipette assembly and by C-Fos immunostaining. Bicuculline, gabazine and kainic acid ejections specifically into the pontine sublaterodorsal nucleus (SLD) induced within a few minutes a PS-like state characterized by a continuous muscle atonia, low voltage EEG and a lack of reaction to stimuli. In contrast, carbachol ejections into the SLD induced wakefulness. In PHA-L, glycine and C-Fos multiple double-labelling experiments, anterogradely labelled fibres originating from the SLD were seen apposed on glycine and C-Fos positive neurons (labelled after 90 min of pharmacologically induced PS-like state) from the ventral gigantocellular and parvicellular reticular nuclei. Altogether, these data indicate that the SLD nuclei contain a population of neurons playing a crucial role in PS onset and maintenance. Furthermore, they suggest that GABAergic disinhibition and glutamate excitation of these neurons might also play a crucial role in the onset of PS.
authors.affiliation: CNRS FRE 2469, Institut Fédératif des Neurosciences de Lyon (IFR 19), Université Claude Bernard Lyon I, 8 Avenue Rockefeller, 69373 LYON Cedex 08, France.
authors.forename: Romuald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Boissard
authors.forename: Damien
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gervasoni
authors.forename: Markus H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Barbagli
authors.forename: Patrice
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fort
authors.forename: Pierre-Hervé
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Luppi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001640:Bicuculline / Q000494:pharmacology; D002217:Carbachol / Q000494:pharmacology; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase / Q000032:analysis; D018679:Cholinergic Agonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D004525:Efferent Pathways / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004576:Electromyography; D018690:Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D018756:GABA Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007608:Kainic Acid / Q000494:pharmacology; D007736:Kynurenic Acid / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D008526:Medulla Oblongata / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D010835:Phytohemagglutinins / Q000032:analysis; D011149:Pons / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000032:analysis; D011724:Pyridazines / Q000494:pharmacology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012895:Sleep, REM / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology*; D013681:Tegmentum Mesencephali / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D018679:Cholinergic Agonists; D018690:Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; D018756:GABA Antagonists; D010835:Phytohemagglutinins; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos; D011724:Pyridazines; C100156:leukoagglutinins, plants; D002217:Carbachol; C049853:gabazine; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase; D007736:Kynurenic Acid; D007608:Kainic Acid; D001640:Bicuculline