c‐Fos expression in preoptic nuclei as a marker of sleep rebound in the rat
- 24 August 2009
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in European Journal of Neuroscience
- Vol. 30 (4), 651-661
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-9568.2009.06848.x
Abstract
Thermoregulation is known to interfere with sleep, possibly due to a functional interaction at the level of the preoptic area (POA). Exposure to low ambient temperature (Ta) induces sleep deprivation, which is followed by sleep rebound after a return to laboratory Ta. As two POA subregions, the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus (VLPO) and the median preoptic nucleus (MnPO), have been proposed to have a role in sleep-related processes, the expression of c-Fos and the phosphorylated form of the cAMP/Ca2+-responsive element-binding protein (P-CREB) was investigated in these nuclei during prolonged exposure to a Ta of −10 °C and in the early phase of the recovery period. Moreover, the dynamics of the sleep rebound during recovery were studied in a separate group of animals. The results show that c-Fos expression increased in both the VLPO and the MnPO during cold exposure, but not in a specific subregion within the VLPO cluster counting grid (VLPO T-cluster). During the recovery, concomitantly with a large rapid eye movement sleep (REMS) rebound and an increase in delta power during non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREMS), c-Fos expression was high in both the VLPO and the MnPO and, specifically, in the VLPO T-cluster. In both nuclei, P-CREB expression showed spontaneous variations in basal conditions. During cold exposure, an increase in expression was observed in the MnPO, but not in the VLPO, and a decrease was observed in both nuclei during recovery. Dissociation in the changes observed between c-Fos expression and P-CREB levels, which were apparently subject to state-related non-regulatory modulation, suggests that the sleep-related changes observed in c-Fos expression do not depend on a P-CREB-mediated pathway.Keywords
This publication has 55 references indexed in Scilit:
- Preoptic mechanism for cold‐defensive responses to skin coolingJournal Of Physiology-London, 2008
- Efferent projections from the median preoptic nucleus to sleep- and arousal-regulatory nuclei in the rat brainNeuroscience, 2007
- The Median Preoptic Nucleus Reciprocally Modulates Activity of Arousal-Related and Sleep-Related Neurons in the Perifornical Lateral HypothalamusJournal of Neuroscience, 2007
- Thermoregulation: some concepts have changed. Functional architecture of the thermoregulatory systemAmerican Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 2007
- Homeostatic Regulation of Sleep: A Role for Preoptic Area NeuronsJournal of Neuroscience, 2006
- Preoptic Area Neurons and the Homeostatic Regulation of Rapid Eye Movement SleepJournal of Neuroscience, 2006
- Anatomical substrates for the central control of sympathetic outflow to interscapular adipose tissue during cold exposureJournal of Comparative Neurology, 2003
- Long‐term vs. short‐term processes regulating REM sleepJournal of Sleep Research, 2002
- Pattern of desynchronized sleep during deprivation and recovery induced in the rat by changes in ambient temperature*Journal of Sleep Research, 1994
- Expression of c-fos immunoreactivity in the hypothalamic magnocellular neurons during chronic osmotic stimulationsNeuroscience Letters, 1994