English to Bulgarian Medical Medical (general) NEUROANATOMY OF SLEEP

Current hypotheses suggest that the capacity for sleep and wakefulness generation is distributed along an axial "core" of neurons extending from the brainstem rostrally to the basal forebrain. Complex commingling of neuronal groups occurs at many points along this brainstem-forebrain axis. It was recently discovered that a cluster of g-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and galaninergic ventrolateral preoptic (VLPO) neurons, which innervate monoaminergic cell groups in the tuberomammilary nucleus that contribute to the ascending arousal system, are activated during sleep. This has led to the hypothesis that these hypothalamic VLPO neurons may play a key role in sleep regulation.