Astrocytes have long been known to have a supportive role to neurons, however, more recently they have been implicated in various brain functions, such as sleep and memory. Across the sleep-wake cycle, astrocytic intracellular Ca2+ levels fluctuate, with distinct changes occurring across different brain regions. While the pons is highly involved in regulating rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, pontine astrocytes exhibit reduced Ca2+ signals upon REM sleep induction. However, the contribution of pontine astrocytes to REM sleep regulation remains unclear. In this project, we investigated if manipulating pontine astrocyte activity could modulate REM sleep regulation. For this, we virally induced hM3Dq receptor expression in pontine astrocytes, under the control of a gfaABC1D promotor, and monitored EEG and EMG activity to classify sleep states. We found that activating pontine astrocytes causes a significant reduction in the total percent of REM sleep and the number of REM sleep episodes across six hours in a dose-dependent manner (1, 5, and 10 mg/kg CNO) compared to controls. Thus, our results suggest a causal role of pontine astrocytes in REM sleep induction. In our presentation, we will also discuss the consequences of this artificial REM sleep reduction concerning sleep architecture and memory consolidation.