Cholinergically induced REM sleep triggers Fos-like immunoreactivity in dorsolateral pontine regions associated with REM sleep

Abstract The brainstem mechanisms for the generation of paradoxical sleep are under considerable debate. Previous experiments in cats have demonstrated that injections of the cholinergic agonist carbachol into the oral pontine tegmentum elicit paradoxical sleep behaviour and its polygraphic correlates. The different results on the pontine structures that mediate this effect do not agree. We report here that limited microinjections of a carbachol solution into the ventral part of the oral pontine reticular nucleus in the cat induce, with a short latency, a dramatic, long‐lasting increase in paradoxical sleep. Moreover, neuronal tracing experiments show that this pontine site is connected with brain structures responsible for the different bioelectric events of paradoxical sleep. These two facts suggest that the ventral part of the oral pontine reticular nucleus is a nodal link in the neuronal network underlying paradoxical sleep mechanisms.

Tegmentum

Reticular activating system

Pons

Sleep

Microinjections

10.1111/j.1460-9568.1994.tb00575.x

Cite

Citations (65)

[Interaction of reticular structures in the brain of the cat].

PubMed (1985)

Okudzhava Vm Mestvirishvili Lp Papuashvili Ns Bagashvili Ti

In acute and chronic experiments on 35 cats an inhibitory influence was found of the caudal reticular nucleus of pons Varolii on unit activity of the sensorimotor cortex and dorsal part of the midbrain reticular formation. The influence of this structure on unit activity of the ventral part of the midbrain reticular formation was mainly of a facilitatory character. Activation of the ventral part inhibited the unit activity of the dorsal part of the same structure. Consequently, the caudal reticular nucleus of pons Varolii elicits inhibition at the level not only of the cerebral cortex but also of the midbrain reticular formation (of its dorsal part). The character of these influences coincides with that of unit activity changes of these two areas of the midbrain reticular formation during the development of the paradoxical phase of sleep. The obtained facts must underlie the stopping of convulsive activity in this phase of sleep.

Midbrain reticular formation

Reticular activating system

Pons

Tegmentum

Reticular connective tissue

Red nucleus

Source

Cite

Citations (1)

Carbachol Injections Into the Ventral Pontine Reticular Formation Activate Locus Coeruleus Cells in Urethane-Anesthetized Rats

SLEEP (2005)

Victor B. Fenik Hiromasa Ogawa Richard O. Davies Leszek Kubin

Study Objectives:Two pontine reticular regions are implicated in cholinergic triggering of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep: the dorsomedial tegmental region and the ventral nucleus pontis oralis. We previously determined that, in urethane-anesthetized rats, microinjections of a cholinergic agonist, carbachol, into the dorsal region produce REM sleep-like effects comprising cortical activation, hippocampal theta rhythm, suppression of hypoglossal (XII) nerve activity, and silencing of pontine noradrenergic neurons. Our goal was to determine whether carbachol injections into the ventral nucleus pontis oralis elicits comparable effects.

Locus coeruleus

Tegmentum

Reticular activating system

Microinjections

Pons

10.1093/sleep/28.5.551

Cite

Citations (18)

Brain structures and mechanisms involved in the generation of REM sleep

Sleep Medicine Reviews (2001)

Fernando Reinoso‐Suárez Isabel de Andrés Margarita L. Rodrigo‐Angulo Miguel Garzón

Tegmentum