Fig. 8: Optogenetic activation of VLM glutamatergic terminals in the POA promotes the transition from wakefulness to NREM sleep. | Nature Communications

Fig. 8: Optogenetic activation of VLM glutamatergic terminals in the POA promotes the transition from wakefulness to NREM sleep.

From: Control of non-REM sleep by ventrolateral medulla glutamatergic neurons projecting to the preoptic area

Fig. 8

a Schematic of anterograde tracing experiment. AAV1-CAG-FLEX-tdTomato (red) was unilaterally injected in the VLM (bottom) of Vglut2-Cre mice (n = 5 mice). Mouse brain figure adapted from Allen mouse brain atlas. Blue DAPI. IO inferior olivary complex. Scale bar, 200 μm. b Fluorescence image of a coronal section (Bregma 0) illustrating axonal terminals (red) in the POA (enlarged in the middle, 5 mice in total). Blue DAPI. Scale bar, 1 mm. Right, diagram of the POA from the brain atlas. c Schematic of optogenetic experiment. d Brain states (upper) and probability (bottom) before, during, and after laser stimulation of VLM glutamatergic terminals in the POA of awake animals (n = 7). Error bands, 95% bootstrap confidence intervals. e Bout durations (upper) and relative delta power (bottom) in optogenetic-induced and natural NREM sleep (n = 7 animals, **P = 0.0003 for bout duration, P = 0.216 for delta power, n.s. no significance, two-sided unpaired t-test). Error bars, SEM. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.

Back to article page