The role of the nucleus accumbens in regulating slow-wave sleep by motivated behavior

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17H02215
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Basic / Social brain science
• Research Institution: University of Tsukuba
• Principal Investigator: Lazarus Michael 筑波大学, International Institute for Integrative Sleep Medicine, associate professor (80469650)
• 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) ; 大石 陽 筑波大学, 国際統合睡眠医科学研究機構, 助教 (70554004)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: sleep / motivation / nucleus accumbens

Outline of Final 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. In this project, we 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.

Free Research Field

sleep neurobiology

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

The achievement has initiated a new area of sleep research on hedonic motivation as a major sleep-gating factor. The achievement also provides further evidence that sleep is the brain’s default state that is established in the absence of arousing inputs.