Calretinin Neurons in the Midline Thalamus Modulate Starvation-Induced Arousal

Ruifang Hua; Xu Wang; Xinfeng Chen; Xinxin Wang; Pengcheng Huang; Pengcheng Li; Wei Mei; Haohong Li

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2018.11.020

Calretinin Neurons in the Midline Thalamus Modulate Starvation-Induced Arousal

Curr Biol. 2018 Dec 17;28(24):3948-3959.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.11.020. Epub 2018 Dec 6.

Authors

Ruifang Hua¹, Xu Wang², Xinfeng Chen², Xinxin Wang², Pengcheng Huang², Pengcheng Li², Wei Mei³, Haohong Li⁴

Affiliations

¹ Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China; MoE Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering Sciences, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China; Henan Key Laboratory of Immunology and Targeted Therapy, Henan Collaborative Innovation Center of Molecular Diagnosis and Laboratory Medicine, School of Laboratory Medicine, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang 453003, Henan Province, China.
² Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China; MoE Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering Sciences, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China.
³ Department of Anesthesiology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, China.
⁴ Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China; MoE Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering Sciences, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, China. Electronic address: hxli@hust.edu.cn.

PMID: 30528578
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.11.020

Abstract

Orchestration of sleep and feeding behavior is essential for organismal health and survival. Although sleep deprivation promotes feeding and starvation suppresses sleep, the underlying neural mechanisms remain largely unknown. Here, we showed that starvation in mice potently promoted arousal and activated calretinin neurons (CR+) in the paraventricular thalamus (PVT). Direct activation of PVT^CR+ neurons promoted arousal, and their activity was necessary for starvation-induced sleep suppression. Specifically, the PVT^CR+-bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) circuit rapidly initiated arousal. Selective inhibition of BNST-projecting PVT neurons opposed arousal during starvation. Taken together, our results define a cell-type-specific neural circuitry modulating starvation-induced arousal and coordinating the conflict between sleeping and feeding.

Keywords: arousal; calretinin; starvation; the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis; the midline thalamus.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Arousal / physiology*
Food Deprivation*
Male
Mice
Mice, Inbred C57BL
Neural Pathways / physiology
Neurons / physiology*
Septal Nuclei / physiology*
Starvation / physiopathology
Thalamus / physiology