2020 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
The role of the nucleus accumbens in regulating slow-wave sleep by motivated behavior
| Project/Area Number |
17H02215
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| Research Institution | University of Tsukuba |
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Principal Investigator |
ラザルス ミハエル 筑波大学, 国際統合睡眠医科学研究機構, 准教授 (80469650)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
高田 陽子 筑波大学, 国際統合睡眠医科学研究機構, 研究員 (60435740)
斉藤 毅 筑波大学, 国際統合睡眠医科学研究機構, 助教 (80609933)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2017-04-01 – 2021-03-31
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| Keywords | Nucleus accumbens / Sleep / Motivation |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
As humans, we often defy sleepiness and stay awake when attention is necessary, but also experience an inescapable desire to sleep in boring or pleasureless situations. The brain mechanisms governing the regulation of sleep by cognitive and emotional factors are not well understood. We previously demonstrated that the arousing effect of caffeine, the most consumed psychoactive compound in the world, is abolished in rodents with site-specific deletion of adenosine A2A receptors in the nucleus accumbens, a part of the brain that is associated with motivation and pleasure. Recently, we also revealed that the nucleus accumbens can produce sleep. The findings may explain why we have the tendency to fall asleep in the absence of motivating stimuli, i.e., when bored. The achievement has initiated a new area of sleep research on hedonic motivation as a major sleep-gating factor. The teleological problem of sleep function arises from the presumption of sleep’s evolution from a default state of waking. Humans are likely biased towards this presumption by the egocentricity of waking consciousness. The regulation of sleep and wake by the nucleus accumbens, however, provides further evidence that sleep is the brain’s default state that is established in the absence of arousing inputs. The newly identified sleep circuit may open new therapeutic avenues for treating insomnia and other sleep or psychiatric disorders.
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| Research Progress Status |
令和2年度が最終年度であるため、記入しない。
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
令和2年度が最終年度であるため、記入しない。
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