TY - JOUR TI - An essential role for MEF2C in the cortical response to loss of sleep in mice AU - Bjorness, Theresa E AU - Kulkarni, Ashwinikumar AU - Rybalchenko, Volodymyr AU - Suzuki, Ayako AU - Bridges, Catherine AU - Harrington, Adam J AU - Cowan, Christopher W AU - Takahashi, Joseph S AU - Konopka, Genevieve AU - Greene, Robert W A2 - West, Anne E A2 - Dulac, Catherine A2 - Diering, Graham VL - 9 PY - 2020 DA - 2020/08/27 SP - e58331 C1 - eLife 2020;9:e58331 DO - 10.7554/eLife.58331 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.58331 AB - Neuronal activity and gene expression in response to the loss of sleep can provide a window into the enigma of sleep function. Sleep loss is associated with brain differential gene expression, an increase in pyramidal cell mEPSC frequency and amplitude, and a characteristic rebound and resolution of slow wave sleep-slow wave activity (SWS-SWA). However, the molecular mechanism(s) mediating the sleep-loss response are not well understood. We show that sleep-loss regulates MEF2C phosphorylation, a key mechanism regulating MEF2C transcriptional activity, and that MEF2C function in postnatal excitatory forebrain neurons is required for the biological events in response to sleep loss in C57BL/6J mice. These include altered gene expression, the increase and recovery of synaptic strength, and the rebound and resolution of SWS-SWA, which implicate MEF2C as an essential regulator of sleep function. KW - sleep KW - gene expression KW - MEF2C KW - slow wave activity KW - sleep deprivation JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -