Journal
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
Volume 38, Issue 10, Pages 2505-2518Publisher
SOC NEUROSCIENCE
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2179-17.2018
Keywords
astrocyte; basal forebrain; confocal microscopy; lateral hypothalamus; patch-clamp recording; synaptic plasticity
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Funding
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research [RNL-132870, MOP-93673]
- Research & Development Corporation Newfoundland and Labrador [5404.1171.102]
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council [RGPIN 2015-05571]
- Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation
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Glutamate transporter 1 (GLT1) is the main astrocytic transporter that shapes glutamatergic transmission in the brain. However, whether this transporter modulates sleep-wake regulatory neurons is unknown. Using quantitative immunohistochemical analysis, we assessed perisomatic GLT1 apposition with sleep-wake neurons in the male rat following 6 h sleep deprivation (SD) or following 6 h undisturbed conditions when animals were mostly asleep (Rest). We found that SD decreased perisomatic GLT1 apposition with wake-promoting orexin neurons in the lateral hypothalamus compared with Rest. Reduced GLT1 apposition was associated with tonic presynaptic inhibition of excitatory transmission to these neurons due to the activation of Group III metabotropic glutamate receptors, an effect mimicked by a GLT1 inhibitor in the Rest condition. In contrast, SD resulted in increased GLT1 apposition with sleep-promoting melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) neurons in the lateral hypothalamus. Functionally, this decreased the postsynaptic response of MCH neurons to high-frequency synaptic activation without changing presynaptic glutamate release. The changes in GLT1 apposition with orexin and MCH neurons were reversed after 3 h of sleep opportunity following 6 h SD. These SD effects were specific to orexin and MCH neurons, as no change in GLT1 apposition was seen in basal forebrain cholinergic or parvalbumin-positive GABA neurons. Thus, within a single hypothalamic area, GLT1 differentially regulates excitatory transmission to wake-and sleep-promoting neurons depending on sleep history. These processes may constitute novel astrocyte-mediated homeostatic mechanisms controlling sleep-wake behavior.
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