Sleep Deprivation and Neurological Disorders

Figure 1

(a) Brain structures involved in REM sleep. PPT/LDT initiates firing during REM sleep and helps in switching between NREM and REM sleep. GABAergic neurons in the hypothalamus promote REM sleep by inactivating vlPAG/dDpMe REM-off GABAergic neurons. SLD consists of projections to glycinergic neuron Raphe magnus, ventral and alpha gigantocellular nuclei, lateral paragigantocellular nucleus, and also spinal, facial, trigeminal neurons and thereby produce muscle atonia during REM sleep. (b) Brain structures involved in NREM sleep. Ventrolateral preoptic area and median preoptic nucleus contain GABAergic neurons that release galanin which inhibit cholinergic neurons in regions like locus coeruleus, Basal Forebrain, TMN, and orexin neurons, thereby inhibiting arousal. The basal forebrain consists of GABAergic neurons that inhibit cortical activation and somatostatin inhibits wake active neurons in the basal forebrain. Parafacial zone releases GABA onto parabrachial neurons which in turn release glutamate onto cortically projecting neurons of the BF, hence promoting SWS. Cortical nitric oxide synthase neurons release GABA and promote SWS.

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