Discovery of Neuronal Subtypes and Circuits in Sleep-Wake Regulation: Insights from the Basal Ganglia
Date:2025-07-02

 

NO. 78

 

CIMR Wednesday Lecture Series

 

Time:

Wednesday, July. 2 2025, 4:00 p.m.

 

Location:

Multi-Function Hall, 2nd Floor, North Basic Research Building 

 

Host

Bin Luo (罗斌)

Postdoctoral Fellow

Lin Mei Lab

Chinese Institutes for Medical Research, Beijing

 

Speaker

Zhi-Li Huang (黄志力)

Professor

Fudan University Shanghai Medical College

 

TITLE:

Discovery of Neuronal Subtypes and Circuits in Sleep-Wake Regulation: Insights from the Basal Ganglia

 

ABSTRACT:

Sleep remains a biological enigma despite its vital role in health, with adults typically requiring 7-9 hours per night. Chronic insomnia impairs cognition, weakens immunity, accelerates aging, and increases risks of chronic diseases. Since Hans Berger's pioneering work in 1924, electroencephalography has become the gold standard for sleep assessment. Recent advances in optogenetics, chemogenetics, and neural tracing technologies have transformed our understanding of sleep-wake regulation. Key neural nuclei and circuits, governed by homeostasis and circadian rhythms, form the core architecture of sleep-wake transitions.

 

Building on insights from Parkinson's disease-related sleep disorders, our team has identified critical nuclei involved in wake promotion, non-REM sleep induction, and REM sleep termination, including the dorsal striatum, nucleus accumbens, ventral pallidum, and hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus.

 

Therapeutic strategies for insomnia have evolved beyond pharmacotherapy to encompass cognitive behavioral therapy, physical interventions, traditional Chinese medicine, and integrative approaches. Notably, non-pharmacological interventions utilizing sound, light, electricity, magnetism, and temperature have shown significant promise.

 

This seminar will explore the functions of sleep, optimal sleep duration, and recent advancements in sleep-wake regulation, with a focus on the impact of non-pharmacological factors and their underlying neurobiological mechanisms.

 

SELECTED PAPERS

1. Li YD, Luo YJ, Su WK, Ge J, Crowther A, Chen ZK, Wang L, Lazarus M, Liu ZL, Qu WM, Huang ZL. Anterior cingulate cortex projections to the dorsal medial striatum underlie insomnia associated with chronic pain. Neuron. 2024 Apr 17; 112(8): 1328-1341.e4.
2. Guo H, Jiang JB, Xu W, Zhang MT, Chen H, Shi HY, Wang L, He M, Lazarus M, Li SQ, Huang ZL, Qu WM. Parasubthalamic calretinin neurons modulate wakefulness associated with exploration in male mice. Nat Commun. 2023 Apr 24; 14(1): 2346.
3. Bao WW, Jiang S, Qu WM, Li WX, Miao CH, Huang ZL. Understanding the Neural Mechanisms of General Anesthesia from Interaction with Sleep-Wake State: A Decade of Discovery. Pharmacol Rev. 2023 May; 75(3): 532-553.