Amygdala GABAergic neuron activity dynamic during cataplexy of narcolepsy
- Medical University of South Carolina, United States
Abstract
Recent studies showed activation of the GABAergic neurons in the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) triggered cataplexy of sleep disorder narcolepsy. However, there is still no direct evidence on CeA GABAergic neurons' real-time dynamic during cataplexy. We used a deep brain calcium imaging tool to image the intrinsic calcium transient as a marker of neuronal activity changes in the narcoleptic VGAT-Cre mice by expressing the calcium sensor GCaMP6 into genetically defined CeA GABAergic neurons. Two distinct GABAergic neuronal groups involved in cataplexy were identified: spontaneous cataplexy-ON and predator odor-induced cataplexy-ON neurons. Majority in the latter group were inactive during regular sleep/wake cycles but were specifically activated by predator odor and continued their intense activities into succeeding cataplexy bouts. Furthermore, we found that CeA GABAergic neurons became highly synchronized during predator odor-induced cataplexy. We suggest that the abnormal activation and synchronization of CeA GABAergic neurons may trigger emotion-induced cataplexy.
Data availability
All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files.
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Funding
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (1R01NS096151)
- Meng Liu
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (1R21NS101469)
- Meng Liu
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Animal experimentation: All manipulations done to the mice followed the policies established in the National Institutes of Health Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and were approved by the Medical University of South Carolina Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (protocol # IACUC-2019-00723). All surgery was performed under isoflurane inhalation, and every effort was made to minimize suffering.
Copyright
© 2019, Sun et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Amygdala GABAergic neuron activity dynamic during cataplexy of narcolepsy
eLife 8:e48311.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.48311
Further reading
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