Premium
Location and Anatomical Connections of a Paradoxical Sleep Induction Site in the Cat Ventral Pontine Tegmentum
Author(s) -
ReinosoSuárez Fernando,
Andrés Isabel,
RodrigoAngulo Margarita L.,
RodríguezVeiga Elisia
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
european journal of neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.346
H-Index - 206
eISSN - 1460-9568
pISSN - 0953-816X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1460-9568.1994.tb00575.x
Subject(s) - tegmentum , paramedian pontine reticular formation , reticular formation , neuroscience , carbachol , brainstem , reticular activating system , pons , sleep (system call) , cholinergic , rapid eye movement sleep , microinjections , psychology , anatomy , medicine , central nervous system , midbrain , stimulation , eye movement , computer science , operating system
The brainstem mechanisms for the generation of paradoxical sleep are under considerable debate. Previous experiments in cats have demonstrated that injections of the cholinergic agonist carbachol into the oral pontine tegmentum elicit paradoxical sleep behaviour and its polygraphic correlates. The different results on the pontine structures that mediate this effect do not agree. We report here that limited microinjections of a carbachol solution into the ventral part of the oral pontine reticular nucleus in the cat induce, with a short latency, a dramatic, long‐lasting increase in paradoxical sleep. Moreover, neuronal tracing experiments show that this pontine site is connected with brain structures responsible for the different bioelectric events of paradoxical sleep. These two facts suggest that the ventral part of the oral pontine reticular nucleus is a nodal link in the neuronal network underlying paradoxical sleep mechanisms.