Skip to main content

Introduction to the Topic

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Sleep Disorders Medicine
  • 5947 Accesses

Abstract

While sleep occupies almost a third of our lives (and half or more of the lives of many animals), the processes that go on in the brain during sleep remain mysterious and in the realm of basic investigation. On the other hand, we have made enormous strides in recent years in identifying the cellular basis that underlies many of the phenomena of sleep and circadian rhythms, and in the process are beginning to frame some cogent ideas about the ultimate function of sleep. The chapters that follow in this section provide a detailed look at the basic science of sleep, from the perspectives of anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, and behavior.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 219.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 279.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 379.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Saper CB, Scammell TE, Lu J (2005) Hypothalamic regulation of sleep and circadian rhythms. Nature 437:1257–1263

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Saper CB, Fuller PM, Pedersen NP, Lu J, Scammell TE (2010) Sleep state switching. Neuron 68:1023–1042

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Blanco-Centurion C, Gerashchenko D, Shiromani PJ (2007) Effects of saporin-induced lesions of three arousal populations on daily levels of sleep and wake. J Neurosci 27:14041–14048

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Lu J, Jhou TC, Saper CB (2006) Identification of wake-active dopaminergic neurons in the ventral periaqueductal gray matter. J Neurosci 26:193–202

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Gompf HS, Mathai C, Fuller PM, Wood DA, Pedersen NP, Saper CB, Lu J (2010) Locus ceruleus and anterior cingulate cortex sustain wakefulness in a novel environment. J Neurosci 30:14543–14551

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Fuller PM, Sherman D, Pedersen NP, Saper CB, Lu J (2011) Reassessment of the structural basis of the ascending arousal system. J. Comp Neurol. 519:933–956

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Qiu MH, Vetrivelan R, Fuller PM, Lu J (2010) Basal ganglia control of sleep-wake behavior and cortical activation. Eur J Neurosci 31:499–507

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Lazarus M, Huang ZL, Lu J, Urade Y, Chen JF (2012) How do the basal ganglia regulate sleep-wake behavior? Trends Neurosci 35:723–732

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Gvilia I, Xu F, McGinty D, Szymusiak R (2006) Homeostatic regulation of sleep: a role for preoptic area neurons. J Neurosci 26:9426–9433

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Anaclet C, Lin JS, Vetrivelan R, Krenzer M, Vong L, Fuller PM, Lu J (2012) Identification and characterization of a sleep-active cell group in the rostral medullary brainstem. J Neurosci 32:17970–17976

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Lazarus M, Shen HY, Cherasse Y, Qu WM, Huang ZL, Bass CE, Winsky-Sommerer R, Semba K, Fredholm BB, Boison D, Hayaishi O, Urade Y, Chen JF (2011) Arousal effect of caffeine depends on adenosine A2A receptors in the shell of the nucleus accumbens. J Neurosci 31:10067–10075

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Gerashchenko D, Wisor JP, Burns D, Reh RK, Shiromani PJ, Sakurai T (2008) de l, I, Kilduff TS: Identification of a population of sleep-active cerebral cortex neurons. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 105:10227–10232

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Hassani OK, Lee MG, Jones BE (2009) Melanin-concentrating hormone neurons discharge in a reciprocal manner to orexin neurons across the sleep-wake cycle. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 106:2418–2422

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  14. Verret L, Goutagny R, Fort P, Cagnon L, Salvert D, Leger L, Boissard R, Salin P, Peyron C, Luppi PH (2003) A role of melanin-concentrating hormone producing neurons in the central regulation of paradoxical sleep. BMC Neurosci 4:19

    Google Scholar 

  15. Strecker RE, Morairty S, Thakkar MM, Porkka-Heiskanen T, Basheer R, Dauphin LJ, Rainnie DG, Portas CM, Greene RW, McCarley RW (2000) Adenosinergic modulation of basal forebrain and preoptic/anterior hypothalamic neuronal activity in the control of behavioral state. Behav Brain Res 115:183–204

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Urade Y, Hayaishi O (2011) Prostaglandin D2 and sleep/wake regulation. Sleep Med Rev 15:411–418

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Saper CB, Lu J, Chou TC, Gooley J (2005) The hypothalamic integrator for circadian rhythms. Trends Neurosci 28:152–157

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Solarz DE, Mullington JM, Meier-Ewert HK (2012) Sleep, inflammation and cardiovascular disease. Front Biosci (Elite Ed) 4:2490-501–2490-2501

    Google Scholar 

  19. Horner RL (2012) Neural control of the upper airway: integrative physiological mechanisms and relevance for sleep disordered breathing. Compr Physiol 2:10

    Google Scholar 

  20. Van Dongen HP, Maislin G, Mullington JM, Dinges DF (2003) The cumulative cost of additional wakefulness: dose-response effects on neurobehavioral functions and sleep physiology from chronic sleep restriction and total sleep deprivation. Sleep 26:117–126

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Stickgold R (2013) Parsing the role of sleep in memory processing. Curr Opin Neurobiol, 10

    Google Scholar 

  22. Cano G, Mochizuki T, Saper CB (2008) Neural circuitry of stress-induced insomnia in rats. J Neurosci 28:10167–10184

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  23. Nofzinger EA, Buysse DJ, Germain A, Price JC, Miewald JM, Kupfer DJ (2004) Functional neuroimaging evidence for hyperarousal in insomnia. Am J Psychiatry 161:2126–2128

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Lu J, Sherman D, Devor M, Saper CB (2006) A putative flip-flop switch for control of REM sleep. Nature 441:589–594

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Boeve BF, Silber MH, Saper CB, Ferman TJ, Dickson DW, Parisi JE, Benarroch EE, Ahlskog JE, Smith GE, Caselli RC, Tippman-Peikert M, Olson EJ, Lin SC, Young T, Wszolek Z, Schenck CH, Mahowald MW, Castillo PR, Del TK, Braak H (2007) Pathophysiology of REM sleep behaviour disorder and relevance to neurodegenerative disease. Brain 130:2770–2788

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Kaur S, Pedersen NP, Yokota S, Hur EE, Fuller PM, Lazarus M, Chamberlin NL, Saper CB (2013) Glutamatergic signaling from the parabrachial nucleus plays a critical role in hypercapnic arousal. J Neurosci (in press)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Herring WJ, Snyder E, Budd K, Hutzelmann J, Snavely D, Liu K, Lines C, Roth T, Michelson D (2012) Orexin receptor antagonism for treatment of insomnia: a randomized clinical trial of suvorexant. Neurology 79:2265–2274

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Schwartz JC (2011) The histamine H3 receptor: from discovery to clinical trials with pitolisant. Br J Pharmacol 163:713–721

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Clifford B. Saper .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Saper, C.B. (2017). Introduction to the Topic. In: Chokroverty, S. (eds) Sleep Disorders Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6578-6_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6578-6_1

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-6576-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-6578-6

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics