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The Journal of Neuroscience, February 4, 2009, 29(5):1580-1585; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5151-08.2009

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Brief Communications
Activity of Pontine Neurons during Sleep and Cataplexy in Hypocretin Knock-Out Mice

Stephen Thankachan, Satvinder Kaur, and Priyattam J. Shiromani

West Roxbury Veterans Administration Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, West Roxbury, Massachusetts 02132

Correspondence should be addressed to Priyattam J. Shiromani, West Roxbury Veterans Administration Medical Center, 1400 Veterans of Foreign Wars Parkway, West Roxbury, MA 02132. Email: pshiromani{at}hms.harvard.edu

Narcolepsy is a human sleep disorder resulting from the loss of neurons containing the neuropeptide orexin, also known as hypocretin. Cataplexy, which is a sudden loss of muscle tone during waking, is an important diagnostic symptom of narcolepsy. In humans and canines with narcolepsy, cataplexy is considered to be a separate and distinct behavioral state. However, in the mouse model of the disease this issue is not resolved. The present study monitored the activity of forty four neurons in the rostral pons in hypocretin knock-out mice. Majority of the neurons were active during wake and REM sleep, while four neurons were selectively active during REM sleep. All of these neurons were less active during cataplexy compared with REM sleep. Thus, although cataplexy and REM sleep share many common features, including the muscle atonia, cataplexy is a distinct state in mice.

Key words: REM; brainstem; knock-out mice; extracellular recordings; periaqueductal gray; peptide

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Received Oct. 24, 2008; revised Dec. 11, 2008; accepted Jan. 6, 2009.

Correspondence should be addressed to Priyattam J. Shiromani, West Roxbury Veterans Administration Medical Center, 1400 Veterans of Foreign Wars Parkway, West Roxbury, MA 02132. Email: pshiromani{at}hms.harvard.edu

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