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Updated: Dec 13, 2025

Polygraphic Recording Procedure for Measuring Sleep in Mice
Published on: January 25, 2016
REM sleep stabilizes hypothalamic representation of feeding behavior
Lukas T Oesch1,2, Mary Gazea1,2, Thomas C Gent1,2
1Zentrum für Experimentelle Neurologie, Department of Neurology, Inselspital University Hospital Bern, CH-3010 Bern, Switzerland.
Abstract:
During rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, behavioral unresponsiveness contrasts strongly with intense brain-wide neural network dynamics. Yet, the physiological functions of this cellular activation remain unclear. Using in vivo calcium imaging in freely behaving mice, we found that inhibitory neurons in the lateral hypothalamus (LHvgat) show unique activity patterns during feeding that are reactivated during REM, but not non-REM, sleep. REM sleep-specific optogenetic silencing of LHvgat cells induced a reorganization of these activity patterns during subsequent feeding behaviors accompanied by decreased food intake. Our findings provide evidence for a role for REM sleep in the maintenance of cellular representations of feeding behavior.
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