{"id":67261,"date":"2019-04-25T17:51:32","date_gmt":"2019-04-26T00:51:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/selfhacked.com\/?p=67261"},"modified":"2019-12-27T01:59:03","modified_gmt":"2019-12-27T09:59:03","slug":"the-vlpo-and-ascending-arousal-system-in-sleep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/selfhacked.com\/blog\/the-vlpo-and-ascending-arousal-system-in-sleep\/","title":{"rendered":"The VLPO and Ascending Arousal System in Sleep"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2>The Ascending Arousal system<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The ascending arousal system has two major branches, which include discrete cell populations and neurotransmitters (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC2701283\/\">R<\/a>).<\/li>\n<li>The first branch supplies nerves into the thalamus, activating neurons and nuclei essential for thalamocortical transmission.<\/li>\n<li>The second branch of the ascending arousal system projects into the lateral hypothalamus, basal forebrain and cerebral cortex (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/12700104\/\">R<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/2995455\/\">R<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/11718878\/\">R<\/a>).<\/li>\n<li>It comprises a number of cell populations (including noradrenergic, serotoninergic, dopaminergic and histaminergic neurons), lateral hypothalamic peptidergic neurons (orexin\/hypocretin) and the basal forebrain (contains acetylcholine or GABA) (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/16251950\/\">R<\/a>).<\/li>\n<li>Neurons in these monoaminergic systems discharge most rapidly during wakefulness, slow down during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and show a little activity during rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/7346592\/\">R<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/17107938\/\">R<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/10517961\/\">R<\/a>). A similar effect is observed with the orexin\/hypocretin neurons (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/11222656\/\">R<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/15924864\/\">R<\/a>).<\/li>\n<li>In contrast, melatonin-concentrating neurons are strongly active during REM sleep (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/12964948\/\">R<\/a>).<\/li>\n<li>In sum, all these systems together discharge in a specific and coordinated manner to promote cortical arousal (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC2701283\/\">R<\/a>).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>The VLPO and the Sleep State<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Sherin <i>et al<\/i> determined that a group of ventrolateral preoptic neurons is specifically activated during sleep (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/8539624\/\">R<\/a>).<\/li>\n<li>The ventrolateral preoptic neuron (VLPO) efferents contain inhibitory neurotransmitters gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and galanin, which play a major role in keeping the ascending arousal system quiet during sleep (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/12401341\/\">R<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/9614245\/\">R<\/a>).<\/li>\n<li>Neurons of the extended VLPO are connected with the various sites in the brain that are involved in REM sleep.<\/li>\n<li>While the VLPO cluster provides output to the histaminergic neurons. Histaminergic neurons are active during waking, reduce firing during NREM sleep and stop discharge during REM sleep (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/15157423\/\">R<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/2436108\/\">R<\/a>).<\/li>\n<li>Afferent neurons of the monoaminergic arousal system also connect with the VLPO (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/11826126\/\">R<\/a>).<\/li>\n<li>Noradrenaline, acetylcholine, and serotonin are all neurotransmitters of wakefulness inhibit VLPO neurons (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/10801127\/\">R<\/a>). The reciprocal inhibitory interaction of the VLPO neurons with the noradrenergic, serotoninergic and cholinergic waking systems play a key role in regulating sleep (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC2701283\/\">R<\/a>).<\/li>\n<li>Experiments in different animals showed that injury to the VLPO cluster and the extended VLPO decreased NREM and REM sleep (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/14625060\/\">R<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/10804223\/\">R<\/a>).<\/li>\n<li>A familial advanced sleep phase syndrome (FASPS) mutation in location 2106 (A-G) of epsilon casein kinase 1 (CK1\u03b5)-binding herp2 gene on chromosome 2 results in translocation of serine in amino-acid 662 with a glycine (56624) (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC3939950\/\">R<\/a>).<\/li>\n<li>Phenotypes are a set of observable characteristics of an individual resulting from the interaction of its genotypes with the environment.<\/li>\n<li>De novo synthesis refers to the synthesis of complex molecules from simple molecules such as sugars or amino acids as opposed to recycling after partial degradation.<\/li>\n<li>DAT is a membrane-spanning protein that pumps the neurotransmitter dopamine out of the synapse back into the cytosol, from which other transporters sequester DA into vesicles and storage for later release.<\/li>\n<li>Cataplexy is a symptom of narcolepsy in which patients experience abrupt transitions from waking to a state akin to REM sleep, with complete muscle atonia (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC2812689\/\">R<\/a>).<\/li>\n<li>An efferent organ or body part carries impulses from the central nervous system to the effector.<\/li>\n<li>Noradrenaline and serotonin inhibit the activity of orexin through the activation of G-protein-regulated inwardly rectifying K+ (GIRK or Kir3) channels via \u03b12-adrenoceptors and 5HT1A-receptors (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/12646175?access_num=12646175&amp;link_type=MED&amp;dopt=Abstract\">R<\/a>).<\/li>\n<li>An afferent nerve fiber or organ carries nerve impulses from the sensory organs to the central nervous system (CNS).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Also see: <a href=\"https:\/\/selfhacked.com\/blog\/sleep-neurophysiology\/\">How Brain Health &amp; Neurotransmitters Affect Sleep<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":14159,"featured_media":86171,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[380,359],"tags":[279],"yst_prominent_words":[9343,20234,9337,20239,20238,4799,20236,4429,5191,20240,9339,511,515,968,967,20266,767,972,18762,20237],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/selfhacked.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67261"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/selfhacked.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/selfhacked.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selfhacked.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14159"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selfhacked.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67261"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/selfhacked.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92457,"href":"https:\/\/selfhacked.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67261\/revisions\/92457"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selfhacked.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/selfhacked.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selfhacked.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selfhacked.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67261"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selfhacked.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=67261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}