谷氨酸在睡眠和觉醒中的作用研究进展

The roles of glutamate in sleep and wakefulness

谷氨酸作为一种兴奋性的神经递质,参与睡眠和觉醒的发生及维持。本文综述了谷氨酸在睡眠和觉醒中的作用,尤其是脑干、外侧下丘脑和基底前脑的谷氨酸在睡眠觉醒中的作用。其中脑干的谷氨酸能既调节清醒时脑活动和肌张力的维持,又调节快速动眼睡眠时相的脑电并引起肌无力;外侧下丘脑的谷氨酸通过激活食欲素神经元,参与外侧下丘脑的唤醒系统;基底前脑的谷氨酸参与脑电去同步化并引起睡眠的减少;而大脑皮层的谷氨酸能神经元不但是觉醒系统的最终作用靶点,而且它本身也可以参与觉醒的调节。同时,谷氨酸能神经元通过与其他类型的神经元的相互作用来调控睡眠觉醒的各个阶段,在脑内组成了一个复杂的睡眠觉醒调节网络,因此不同睡眠觉醒时相的转变,可能存在不同的神经环路机制。文中着重探讨了谷氨酸参与的睡眠觉醒时相转换的神经环路及可能的机制。

Glutamate as an excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system,participate in initiation and maintaining of sleep and wakefulness.The paper presents an overview of the research progress of glutamate in the regulation of sleep and wakefulness,especially focuses on its role in the brainstem,lateral hypothalamus and basal forebrain.Glutamate in the brain stem regulates the brain activity and maintains muscle tone during the wakefulness,as well as adjusts the electroencephalograph （EEG） in rapid eye movement phase and leads to muscle weakness.Glutamate in the lateral hypothalamus participates in the lateral hypothalamic arousal system by activating orexins neurons.The basal forebrain glutamatergic neurons take part in EEG synchronization and cause the decrease of sleep.Finally,The glutamatergic neurons of the cerebral cortex is not just a target of the arousal system,but itself contribute to regulation of arousal.Meantime,the glutamatergic neurons can regulate sleep stages through interaction with other types of neurons,which forms a complex sleep-wake regulation network in the brain.These indicate that the switches between different phases of sleep and wakefulness have different neuronal circuits.So we also reviewed the neuronal circuits and mechanisms that glutamate may be involved in.This review will help us to get a better understanding of the roles of glutamate in sleep and wakefulness.