Retino-hypothalamic regulation of light-induced sleep in mice
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- The daily organization of sleep is regulated by a complex interaction between circadian and homeostatic processes. Light indirectly modulates sleep through its ability to phase shift and entrain the circadian system. However, light can also exert a direct, circadian-independent effect on sleep. In diurnal animals, an acute exposure to light promotes arousal whereas the same exposure induces sleep in nocturnal animals. The mechanisms whereby light directly influences sleep are not well understood. Chapter 1 reviews both the neurobiology and current hypotheses of how light acutely modulates sleep at the level of the retina and hypothalamus. Chapter 2 highlights the selective effects of light on murine sleep. By using single light pulses of different intensities and durations, the data demonstrate that (1) mice are highly responsive to the sleep inducing properties of light during the dark phase, (2) the transition to sleep is characterized by a rapid induction, period of maintenance, and a rapid compensatory recovery, and (3) the melanopsin photoreceptors in the eye are primarily important for maintenance of light-induced sleep. Chapter 3 focuses on the modulation of light-induced sleep by the melanopsin photoreceptors and histamine H3-receptors. We found that (1) millisecond light flashes are able to induce sleep in mice over a fairly large range of intervals, and similar to studies using continuous light, the response is melanopsin dependent. (2) We further show that the acute administration of ciproxifan, a selective histamine H3 receptor antagonist, attenuated the increase in sleep by continuous light early in the dark period. Chapter 4 contains a summary of the main findings of this dissertation and a discussion of new avenues for research on this topic which is still in its early stages. Overall, the work here highlights fundamental characteristics of light-induced sleep in mice. Such knowledge will be important for future studies assessing the mechanisms involved in the acute modulation of sleep by light in mammals.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2013 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Muindi, Fanuel |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Biology. |
| Primary advisor | Heller, H. Craig |
| Thesis advisor | Heller, H. Craig |
| Thesis advisor | Sapolsky, Robert M |
| Thesis advisor | Zeitzer, Jamie Marc |
| Thesis advisor | Lecea, Luis de |
| Advisor | Sapolsky, Robert M |
| Advisor | Zeitzer, Jamie Marc |
| Advisor | Lecea, Luis de |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Fanuel Muindi. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Biology. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2013. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2013 by Fanuel Muindi
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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