Scientists discover new ‘sleep node’ in brain

A sleep-promoting circuit located deep in the primitive brainstem has revealed how we fall into deep sleep. This is only the second ‘sleep node’ identified in the mammalian brain whose activity appears to be both necessary and sufficient to produce deep sleep.

Published online in August in Nature Neuroscience, the study demonstrates that fully half of all of the brain’s sleep-promoting activity originates from the parafacial zone (PZ) in the brainstem. The brainstem is a primordial part of the brain that regulates basic functions necessary for survival, such as breathing, blood pressure, heart rate and body

The researchers found that a specific type of neuron in the PZ that makes the neurotransmitter gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA) is responsible for deep sleep. They used a set of innovative tools to precisely control these neurons remotely, in essence giving them the ability to turn the neurons on and off at will.