Scientists from Harvard School of Medicine, MA, and the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, NY, claim to have discovered a “sleep node” in the mammalian brain responsible for sending us into deep sleep.

Share on Pinterest The team found that a specific neuron in the brainstem makes the neurotransmitter responsible for inducing deep sleep.

The team found that a specific neuron in the brainstem’s parafacial zone (PZ) makes the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which is responsible for inducing deep sleep. Next, they investigated whether it was possible to control these neurons by switching them on and off remotely.

To do so required the deployment of groundbreaking new tools. “These new molecular approaches allow unprecedented control over brain function at the cellular level,” says Christelle Ancelet, postdoctoral fellow at Harvard School of Medicine.

She explains:

“Before these tools were developed, we often used ‘electrical stimulation’ to activate a region, but the problem is that doing so stimulates everything the electrode touches and even surrounding areas it didn’t. It was a sledgehammer approach, when what we needed was a scalpel.”

The level of precision required for this molecular control required the team to design innovative solutions. This included introducing a virus into the PZ expressing a “designer” receptor that only affected GABA neurons. Apart from the interaction with the GABA neurons, brain function was otherwise unaltered.

Testing this designer virus in a mouse model, the researchers witnessed immediate results. “When we turned on the GABA neurons in the PZ, the animals quickly fell into a deep sleep without the use of sedatives or sleep aids,” says senior author and Harvard assistant professor Patrick Fuller.