title: Nitric oxide and sleep.
abstract: Nitric oxide (NO) is a biological messenger synthesized by three main isoforms of NO synthase (NOS): neuronal (nNOS, constitutive calcium dependent), endothelial (eNOS, constitutive, calcium dependent) and inducible (iNOS, calcium independent). NOS is distributed in the brain either in circumscribed neuronal sets or in sparse interneurons. Within the laterodorsal tegmentum (LDT), pedunculopontine tegmentum and dorsal raphe nucleus, NOS-containing neurons overlap neurons grouped according to their contribution to sleep mechanisms. The main target for NO is the soluble guanylate cyclase that triggers an overproduction of cyclic guanosine monophosphate. NO in neurons of the pontine tegmentum facilitates sleep (particularly rapid-eye-movement sleep), and NO contained within the LDT intervenes in modulating the discharge of the neurons through an auto-inhibitory process involving the co-synthesized neurotransmitters. Moreover, NO synthesized within cholinergic neurons of the basal forebrain, while under control of the LDT, may modulate the spectral components of the EEG instead of the amounts of different sleep states. Finally, impairment of NO production (e.g. neurodegeneration, iNOS induction) has identifiable effects, including ageing, neuropathologies and parasitaemia.
authors.affiliation: Claude Bernard University Lyon1, INSERM U 480, EA 3734 and IFR 19, 8 avenue Rockefeller, F-69373 Lyon Cedex 08, France. sgautier@univ-lyon1.fr
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gautier-Sauvigné
authors.forename: Damien
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Colas
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Parmantier
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Clement
authors.forename: Abdallah
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gharib
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sarda
authors.forename: Raymond
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cespuglio
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D006162:Guanylate Cyclase / Q000378:metabolism; D006706:Homeostasis / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000502:physiology*; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D012895:Sleep, REM / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D009569:Nitric Oxide; D006162:Guanylate Cyclase