Sleep research group found that dopamine D1 receptor-positive neurons in the dorsal striatum promote wakefulness

Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) have progressive loss of dopaminergic cells in the basal ganglia (BG), accompanied by severe sleep disturbances, such as excessive daytime sleepiness

Huang Zhili's group found that dopamine D1 receptor (D1R)-positive neurons in the dorsal striatum initiate and maintain wakefulness

The research team used advanced technologies such as optogenetics and chemical genetics to study the role and neural circuits of dorsal striatal D1R neurons in regulating wakefulness

Neuronal activity monitoring showed that striatal D1R neurons were highly active during wakefulness and quiet during NREM sleep

Figure: Mechanism of striatal dopamine D1 receptor-positive neurons regulating wakefulness

Striatal D1R neurons integrate upstream prefrontal cortex (PFC), dorsomedial thalamus (MD), and substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) signals to inhibit downstream nuclei globus pallidus (EP) and substantia nigra reticulum ( SNr), regulates arousal in mice

Huang Zhili's research group focuses on the mechanism of sleep and insomnia

This study revealed the mechanism of D1R neurons in the dorsal striatum regulating wakefulness and neural circuits, adding a new nucleus to the wakefulness regulation system, and providing a new strategy for the treatment of related diseases with sleep disorders

Huang Zhili and Professor Qu Weimin are the co-corresponding authors of this paper, and Dong Hui, Chen Zeka, Guo Han and Yuan Xiangshan are the co-first authors of the paper

Article information and links:

Hui Dong, Ze-Ka Chen, Han Guo, Xiang-Shan Yuan, Cheng-Wei Liu, Wei-Min Qu*, and Zhi-Li Huang*.