A Tiny Cortical Switch Orchestrates Sleep Across the Brain
TL;DR
A Nature study identifies a rare group of cortical inhibitory neurons (Sst-Chodl) that can initiate sleep across the brain. In mice, activating these cells drives delta waves and REM sleep, shortens time to fall asleep, and influences distant brain regions, suggesting the cortex can actively trigger sleep and may sense sleep pressure—a finding with implications for sleep disorders and future research on brain-wide sleep control.
Topics:healthscience#brain#cortex#neurons#note-ignore-this-extra-tag-only-five-allowed#optogenetics#science#sleep
- Finding the cells that put our brain to sleep Ars Technica
- Inducing sleep through neural stimulation AIP.ORG
- Discovery of Rare Brain Cells That Help Drive Sleep respiratory-therapy.com
- Scientists Find Group of Brain Cells That Can Synchronize the Brain and Trigger Sleep in Mice Medical Daily
- Rare brain cells can actually push the brain into sleep earth.com
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