For several years, a team led by Franck Girard and Marco Celio at the University of Freiburg has studied neurons that occur in the brain stem and form a structure that is reminiscent of butterfly wings (“nucleus papilio”). “These neurons are associated with multiple nerve centers, especially those responsible for eye movement, and those involved in sleep control,” Girard explains in a release. “Therefore, we asked ourselves the following question: May the nucleus papilio neurons play a role in the control of eye movements during sleep?”
To test this hypothesis, the Freiburg researchers turned to the research group headed by Dr C. Gutiérrez Herrera and A. Adamantidis, a professor at the department of neurology at the Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, and department for biomedical research of the University of Bern, who are investigating sleep in mice. “To our surprise, we found that these neurons are particularly active in the phase of paradoxical sleep,” says Dr Carolina Gutierrez. The researchers from Bern gathered the loop around the nucleus papilio neurons even more closely and were able to demonstrate with the help of optogenetic methods (combined optical and genetic techniques) that their artificial activation causes rapid eye movement, especially during this sleep phase. Conversely, the inhibition or elimination of these same neurons blocks the movement of the eyes.
Now that it is clear that the nucleus papilio neurons play an important role in eye movement during REM sleep, it is important to find out what function this phenomenon has. Is it due to the visual experience of dreams? Does it matter in preserving memories? “Now that we are able to specifically activate the nucleus papilio ‘on demand’ in mice by optogenetic methods, we may be able to find answers to these questions,” says Antoine Adamantidis. The next step, however, will be to confirm the activation of nucleus papilio neurons during REM sleep in humans.
A better understanding of the neural circuits involved in REM sleep is a prerequisite for understanding for instance how these neurons are prone to degenerative changes in diseases such as Parkinson’s, according to the researchers.
The study is published in Nature Communications.
