A half-centre oscillator encodes sleep need in the Drosophila brain
Peter Hasenhuetl, Raffaele Sarnataro, Eleftheria Vrontou, H. Olof Rorsman, Clifford B. Talbot, Ruth Brain, Gero Miesenböck · FENS Forum 2024
Homeostatic regulation of sleep and wakefulness is essential for survival, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. In Drosophila, a central role in sleep homeostasis is attributed to neurons projecting to the dorsal fan-shaped body (dFB), which store sleep need via their intrinsic excitability. Here, we test if and how dFB neurons incorporate this intrinsic account of sleep drive into their network activity. In vivo dFB neuron ensemble activity is rhythmic, with a peak at 0.2-1 Hz (measured via calcium imaging). The amplitude of these slow oscillations increases with sleep drive,
ePoster · Neuroscience