英国伦敦帝国理工学院William Wisden、Nicholas P. Franks、Xiao Yu和中国第四军医大学Hailong Dong研究组合作取得一项新突破。他们研究发现中脑中的特定回路可检测压力并诱导恢复性睡眠。该研究于2022年7月1日发表于国际学术期刊《科学》杂志。

研究人员利用活动依赖性标记揭示了腹侧被盖区γ-氨基丁酸(GABA)-生长抑素(VTAVgat-Sst)细胞的一个子集，它们感知压力并通过下丘脑外侧驱动非快速眼动(NREM)和快速眼动睡眠，并抑制促肾上腺皮质激素-下丘脑室旁释放因子（CRF）的释放。短暂压力会在几个小时内增强VTAVgat-Sst细胞的活性，使它们能够持续发挥促睡眠效果。

破坏VTAVgat-Sst细胞消除了社会挫败压力（SDS）诱导的睡眠；这些细胞缺失并不影响焦虑和皮质酮浓度在感受压力后的增加。因此，该研究揭示了一个特定的回路可以让动物通过睡眠来恢复精神和身体功能，这可能为治疗焦虑症提供潜在的靶点。

据悉，在小鼠中，SDS会诱导睡眠，SDS是一种心理社会压力的行为学模型。 这样的睡眠可以增强复原力，但尚不清楚压力如何促进睡眠。

附：英文原文

Title: A specific circuit in the midbrain detects stress and induces restorative sleep

Author: Xiao Yu, Guangchao Zhao, Dan Wang, Sa Wang, Rui Li, Ao Li, Huan Wang, Mathieu Nollet, You Young Chun, Tianyuan Zhao, Raquel Yustos, Huiming Li, Jianshuai Zhao, Jiannan Li, Min Cai, Alexei L. Vyssotski, Yulong Li, Hailong Dong, Nicholas P. Franks, William Wisden

Issue&Volume: 2022-07-01

Abstract: In mice, social defeat stress (SDS), an ethological model for psychosocial stress, induces sleep. Such sleep could enable resilience, but how stress promotes sleep is unclear. Activity-dependent tagging revealed a subset of ventral tegmental area γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)–somatostatin (VTAVgat-Sst) cells that sense stress and drive non–rapid eye movement (NREM) and REM sleep through the lateral hypothalamus and also inhibit corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) release in the paraventricular hypothalamus. Transient stress enhances the activity of VTAVgat-Sst cells for several hours, allowing them to exert their sleep effects persistently. Lesioning of VTAVgat-Sst cells abolished SDS-induced sleep; without it, anxiety and corticosterone concentrations remained increased after stress. Thus, a specific circuit allows animals to restore mental and body functions by sleeping, potentially providing a refined route for treating anxiety disorders.

DOI: abn0853

Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn0853