Sleep and the hypothalamus
Prof. Antoine Adamantidis
Associate Professor of System Neurophysiology in the Dept of Neurology at the University of Bern, Switzerland; Director for the Zentrum Fur Experimentelle Neurologie (ZEN) at the Inselspital University Hospital Bern, Switzerland.
Prof. Adamantidis’s research objectives aim at investigating the wiring, firing dynamics and plasticity of the neural circuits regulating sleep-wake states in normal and pathological states using in vitro and in vivo optogenetics combined to in vivo imaging and electophysiological methods in mice. His laboratory identified brain circuits essential for the architecture of sleep (i.e., sleep-wake switches) and brain plasticity during sleep using Optogenetics that remarkably advanced the field of experimental and opened new avenues in clinical sleep research. Amongst recent accomplishments, his lab demonstrated that sleep waves slow waves are essential to support brain plasticity after stroke, and, discovered a new mechanisms for brain plasticity during REM sleep important for the consolidation and erasure of memories.
Hot questions on the control of sleep and wake by hypothalamic cell networks
The elaboration of behavioural strategies to meet homeostatic needs in an ever-changing environment is a major challenge for the mammalian brain. The hypothalamus plays a key role in the integration of hormonal, metabolic, circadian, and motivational signals into coherent goal-directed behaviours and proper sleep-wake states. Recent investigations have identified subpopulations of excitatory and inhibitory neurons in the hypothalamus that controls wakefulness/arousal, rapid eye-movement (REM) sleep, or thermoregulation, appetitive/consummatory behaviours. Yet, how neuronal populations compute both sleep and thermoregulatory functions, for instance, remains largely unknown.
This week’s Sleep Science Friday emphasizes the open questions on the hypothalamus network regulating sleep/wake and thermoregulation or goal-directed behaviours.
For more details, you can watch Prof. Adamantidis presenting a summary of these interesting research results in the video below or read the review here for even more details.
Recent publications from ESRS members
- Steier et al. (2023). Recommendations for clinical management of excessive daytime sleepiness in obstructive sleep apnoea – A Delphi consensus study. Sleep Med.
- Holtstrand et al. (2023). Obstructive sleep apnea severity and prevalent atrial fibrillation in a sleep clinic cohort with versus without excessive daytime sleepiness. Sleep Med.
- Giacomini et al. (2023). Electroclinical Features of Epilepsy in Kleefstra Syndrome. Neuropediatrics.
- Specht et al. (2023). Circadian protein expression patterns in healthy young adults. Sleep Health.
- Ferini-Strambi et al. (2023). Role of sleep in neurodegeneration: the consensus report of the 5th Think Tank World Sleep Forum. Neurol Sci.
- Bassi et al. (2023). Work productivity and activity impairment in patients with narcolepsy type 1. J Sleep Res.
- Goodman et al. (2023). Causal Association Between Subtypes of Excessive Daytime Sleepiness and Risk of Cardiovascular Diseases. J Am Heart Assoc.