Abstract
Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is a parasomnia characterized by the loss of muscle atonia during paradoxical (REM) sleep (PS). The neuronal dysfunctions responsible for RBD are not known. In the present review, we propose an updated integrated model of the mechanisms responsible for PS and explore different hypotheses explaining RBD. We propose that RBD appears based on a specific degeneration of PS-on glutamatergic neurons localized in the caudal pontine sublaterodorsal tegmental nucleus or the glycinergic/GABAergic premotoneurons localized in the medullary ventral gigantocellular reticular nucleus.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Schenck CH, Bundlie SR, Ettinger MG, Mahowald MW. Chronic behavioral disorders of human REM sleep: a new category of parasomnia. Sleep 1986; 9 (2): 293–308.
Iranzo A, Santamaria J, Tolosa E. The clinical and patho-physiological relevance of REM sleep behavior disorder in neurodegenerative diseases. Sleep Med. Rev. 2009; 13 (6): 385–401.
Thomas A, Bonanni L, Onofrj M. Symptomatic REM sleep behaviour disorder. Neurol. Sci. 2007; 28 (Suppl 1): S21–36.
Lapierre O, Montplaisir J. Polysomnographic features of REM sleep behavior disorder: development of a scoring method. Neurology 1992; 42 (7): 1371–4.
Anderson KN, Shneerson JM. Drug treatment of REM sleep behavior disorder: the use of drug therapies other than clonazepam. J. Clin. Sleep Med. 2009; 5 (3): 235–9.
Jouvet M, Michel F. Corrélations électromyographiques du sommeil chez le chat décortiqué et mésencéphalique chronique. C.R. Soc. Biol. 1959; 153: 422–5.
Jouvet M, Michel F, Courjon J. Sur un stade d’activité électrique cérébrale rapide au cours du sommeil physiologique. CR Seances. Soc. Biol. 1959; 153: 1024–8.
Jouvet M. [The paradoxical phase of sleep]. Int. J. Neurol. 1965; 5 (2): 131–50.
Sakai K. Neurons responsible for paradoxical sleep. In: Wauquier A, Janssen Research Foundation, ed. Sleep: Neurotransmitters and Neuromodulators. Raven Press: New York, 1985; 29–42.
Sakai K, Koyama Y. Are there cholinergic and noncholinergic paradoxical sleep-on neurones in the pons? Neuroreport 1996; 7 (1517): 2449–53.
Sakai K, Crochet S, Onoe H. Pontine structures and mechanisms involved in the generation of paradoxical (REM) sleep. Arch. Ital. Biol. 2001; 139: 93–107.
Luppi PH, Sakai K, Fort P, Salvert D, Jouvet M. The nuclei of origin of monoaminergic, peptidergic, and cholinergic afferents to the cat nucleus reticularis magnocellularis: a double-labeling study with cholera toxin as a retrograde tracer. J. Comp. Neurol. 1988; 277: 1–20.
Fort P, Luppi PH, Wenthold R, Jouvet M. [Glycine immunoreactive neurons in the medulla oblongata in cats]. C. R. Acad. Sci. III 1990; 311: 205–12.
Fort P, Luppi PH, Jouvet M. Glycine-immunoreactive neurones in the cat brain stem reticular formation. Neuroreport 1993; 4 (9): 1123–6.
Verret L, Leger L, Fort P, Luppi PH. Cholinergic and noncholinergic brainstem neurons expressing Fos after paradoxical (REM) sleep deprivation and recovery. Eur. J. Neurosci. 2005; 21 (9): 2488–504.
Sapin E, Lapray D, Berod A et al. Localization of the brainstem GABAergic neurons controlling paradoxical (REM) sleep. PLoS ONE 2009; 4: e4272.
Lu J, Sherman D, Devor M, Saper CB. A putative flipflop switch for control of REM sleep. Nature 2006; 441 (7093): 589–94.
Clement O, Sapin E, Berod A, Fort P, Luppi PH. Evidence that Neurons of the Sublaterodorsal Tegmental Nucleus Triggering Paradoxical (REM) Sleep Are Glutamatergic. Sleep 2011; 34 (4): 419–23.
Hendricks JC, Morrison AR, Mann GL. Different behaviors during paradoxical sleep without atonia depend on pontine lesion site. Brain Res. 1982; 239: 81–105.
Henley K, Morrison AR. A re-evaluation of the effects of lesions of the pontine tegmentum and locus coeruleus on phenomena of paradoxical sleep in the cat. Acta Neurobiol. Exp. (Warsz) 1974; 34 (2): 215–32.
Sastre JP, Jouvet M. Le comportement onirique du chat [Oneiric behavior in cats]. Physiol. Behav. 1979; 22 (5): 979–89.
Jouvet M. Recherches sur les structures nerveuses et les mécanismes responsables des différentes phases du sommeil physiologique. Arch. Ital. Biol. 1962; 100: 125–206.
Webster HH, Jones BE. Neurotoxic lesions of the dorsolateral pontomesencephalic tegmentum-cholinergic cell area in the cat. II. Effects upon sleep-waking states. Brain Res. 1988; 458 (2): 285–302.
Mahowald MW, Schenck CH. REM sleep behavior disorder. In: Kryger MH, Roth T, Dement WC, eds. Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine. Saunders: Philadelphia, PA, 2000; 389–401.
Kodama T, Lai YY, Siegel JM. Enhanced glutamate release during REM sleep in the rostromedial medulla as measured by in vivo microdialysis. Brain Res. 1998; 780: 178–81.
Holmes CJ, Jones BE. Importance of cholinergic, GABAergic, serotonergic and other neurons in the medial medullary reticular formation for sleep-wake states studied by cytotoxic lesions in the cat. Neuroscience 1994; 62: 1179–200.
Lai YY, Siegel JM. Pontomedullary glutamate receptors mediating locomotion and muscle tone suppression. J. Neurosci. 1991; 11 (9): 2931–7.
Boissard R, Gervasoni D, Schmidt MH, Barbagli B, Fort P, Luppi PH. The rat pontomedullary network responsible for paradoxical sleep onset and maintenance: a combined microinjection and functional neuroanatomical study. Eur. J. Neurosci. 2002; 16 (10): 1959–73.
Holstege JC, Bongers CM. A glycinergic projection from the ventromedial lower brainstem to spinal motoneurons. An ultrastructural double labeling study in rat. Brain Res. 1991; 566: 308–15.
Kato G, Yasaka T, Katafuchi T et al. Direct GABAergic and glycinergic inhibition of the substantia gelatinosa from the rostral ventromedial medulla revealed by in vivo patchclamp analysis in rats. J. Neurosci. 2006; 26 (6): 1787–94.
Soja PJ, Pang W, Taepavarapruk N, McErlane SA. Spontaneous spike activity of spinoreticular tract neurons during sleep and wakefulness. Sleep 2001; 24: 18–25.
Brooks PL, Peever JH. Glycinergic and GABA(A)-mediated inhibition of somatic motoneurons does not mediate rapid eye movement sleep motor atonia. J. Neurosci. 2008; 28 (14): 3535–45.
Chase MH. Confirmation of the consensus that glycinergic postsynaptic inhibition is responsible for the atonia of REM sleep. Sleep 2008; 31(11): 1487–91. discussion 927.
Brooks P, Peever J. Role for GABAB-mediated inhibition in the control of somatic motoneurons during REM sleep. SfN (Abstract). 2009.
Lai YY, Hsieh K C, Nguyen D, Peever J, Siegel JM. Neurotoxic lesions at the ventral mesopontine junction change sleep time and muscle activity during sleep: an animal model of motor disorders in sleep. Neuroscience 2008; 154: 431–43.
Chase MH, Morales FR. The atonia and myoclonia of active (REM) sleep. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 1990; 41: 557–84.
Burgess C, Lai D, Siegel J, Peever J. An endogenous glutamatergic drive onto somatic motoneurons contributes to the stereotypical pattern of muscle tone across the sleep-wake cycle. J. Neurosci. 2008; 28 (18): 4649–60.
Holstege G. Descending motor pathways and the spinal motor system: limbic and nonlimbic components. Prog. Brain Res. 1991; 87: 307–421.
Lee MG, Hassani OK, Jones BE. Discharge of identified orexin/hypocretin neurons across the sleep-waking cycle. J. Neurosci. 2005; 25 (28): 6716–20.
Xi MC, Fung SJ, Yamuy J, Morales FR, Chase MH. Induction of Active (REM) Sleep and Motor Inhibition by Hypocretin in the Nucleus Pontis Oralis of the Cat. J. Neurophysiol. 2002; 87: 2880–8.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Luppi, PH., ClÉMent, O. & Fort, P. Brainstem structures involved in rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder. Sleep Biol. Rhythms 11 (Suppl 1), 9–14 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1479-8425.2012.00544.x
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1479-8425.2012.00544.x