The paraventricular thalamus is a critical thalamic area for wakefulness

Clinical observations indicate that the paramedian region of the thalamus is a critical node for controlling wakefulness. However, the specific nucleus and neural circuitry for this function remain unknown. Using in vivo fiber photometry or multichannel electrophysiological recordings in mice, we found that glutamatergic neurons of the paraventricular thalamus (PVT) exhibited high activities during wakefulness. Suppression of PVT neuronal activity caused a reduction in wakefulness, whereas activation of PVT neurons induced a transition from sleep to wakefulness and an acceleration of emergence from general anesthesia. Moreover, our findings indicate that the PVT-nucleus accumbens projections and hypocretin neurons in the lateral hypothalamus to PVT glutamatergic neurons' projections are the effector pathways for wakefulness control. These results demonstrate that the PVT is a key wakefulness-controlling nucleus in the thalamus.

临床观察表明，丘脑旁正中区域是控制觉醒的关键节点。然而，行使这一功能的具体核团和神经回路仍不清楚。通过在小鼠体内进行光纤光度测定或多通道电生理记录，我们发现丘脑室旁核（PVT）的谷氨酸能神经元在觉醒期间表现出高活性。抑制PVT神经元的活动会导致觉醒减少，而激活PVT神经元会诱导从睡眠到觉醒的转变以及从全身麻醉中苏醒的加速。此外，我们的研究结果表明，PVT - 伏隔核投射以及下丘脑外侧的食欲素神经元到PVT谷氨酸能神经元的投射是控制觉醒的效应通路。这些结果证明PVT是丘脑内一个关键的控制觉醒的核团。