The team found a mechanism for regulating sleep quality in the brain

Sleep has become a global issue Recently, the first mock exam of Liu Chang, Professor of Shenzhen advanced technology research institute of China Academy of Sciences, and Brandeis University professor Leslie C Griffith, using fruit fly as a model organism, discovered the neural circuits regulating the sleep quality in the brain, and further analyzed the neural mechanism of regulating sleep, which provided new therapeutic intervention targets and potential therapeutic strategies for dealing with sleep problems The research results were published in the current biology, a subsidiary of cell, on October 24 In exploring the mystery of sleep quality, the team focused on serotonin, an important neurotransmitter To find out the relationship between the two, the team first found specific genes expressed in serotonin neurons in the brain of Drosophila melanogaster, and then stimulated these neurons through "light" or "heat", the stimulated neurons will release molecular signals These excited serotonin neurons lead to sleep fragmentation The team also found that in ellipsoid, a doughnut like brain region in Drosophila's brain, a specific receptor receives these signals, and stimulating these receptor neurons also leads to Drosophila's sleep fragmentation "Compared with the control group, the number of wakes of flies with special neural circuit activated increased 15-20 times on average during daytime sleep, and the number of wakes at night increased 10-15 times on average." Liu Chang It is worth mentioning that the "doughnut" brain area where these receptors receive signals and interrupt sleep has been thought to be responsible for regulating movement and perception, similar to the "Navigator" in the brain of Drosophila In recent years, the relationship between this brain region and sleep homeostasis has been concerned by the academic community, and the research results reveal the mechanism of this brain region regulating sleep quality for the first time "Although the neural regulatory mechanism of sleep quality is found in the brain of Drosophila melanogaster, it has been confirmed by experiments that the relationship between the specific receptor found in this study and sleep quality also exists in mammals in terms of behavior and physiology." Liu Chang said that the next step will continue to focus on the downstream molecules involved in regulating sleep quality