Cited by 100Sleep and Wakefulness ResearchAnesthesia and Sedative AgentsAnesthesia and Neurotoxicity Research

Excitatory pathways from the lateral habenula enable propofol-induced sedation

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Gelegen, Cigdem, Miracca, Giulia, Ran, Mingzi Z., Harding, Edward C., Ye, Zhiwen, Yu, Xiao, Tossell, Kyoko, Houston, Catriona M. +6 more·2018·Current Biology

Abstract

The lateral habenula has been widely studied for its contribution in generating reward-related behaviors [1, 2]. We have found that this nucleus plays an unexpected role in the sedative actions of the general anesthetic propofol. The lateral habenula is a glutamatergic, excitatory hub that projects to multiple targets throughout the brain, including GABAergic and aminergic nuclei that control arousal [3-5]. When glutamate release from the lateral habenula in mice was genetically blocked, the ability of propofol to induce sedation was greatly diminished. In addition to this reduced sensitivity to propofol, blocking output from the lateral habenula caused natural non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep to become highly fragmented, especially during the rest ("lights on") period. This fragmentation was largely reversed by the dual orexinergic antagonist almorexant. We conclude that the glutamatergic output from the lateral habenula is permissive for the sedative actions of propofol and is also necessary for the consolidation of natural sleep.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.cub.2017.12.050

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  • Recruitment of excitatory glutamatergic lateral habenula neurons is another way general anesthetics produce sedation and hypnosis by using natural sleep machinery.

    “recruitment of excitatory glutamatergic neurons in the lateral habenula appears as yet another example through which general anesthetics produce sedative and hypnotic actions by comandeering the endogenous machinery necessary for natural sleep [105].”

    From The Biology of General Anesthesia from Paramecium to Primate (2019) · cites this paper as [105]

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Authors
Gelegen, C., Miracca, G., Ran, M. Z., Harding, E. C., Ye, Z., Yu, X., Tossell, K., Houston, C. M., Yustos, R., Hawkins, E. D., Vyssotski, A. L., Dong, H. L., Wisden, W., & Franks, N. P.
Affiliations
  • Imperial College London (GB)
  • Xijing Hospital (CN)
  • University of Zurich (CH)
  • UK Dementia Research Institute (GB)
Corresponding author
  • Wisden, William
  • Franks, Nicholas P.
Venue
Current Biology
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2018-02
Volume
28
Issue
4
Pages
580-587.e5
ISSN
0960-9822 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2787216349
Cited by
100
References
47
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 5
FWCI
4.91
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Current Biology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Minerva Access (University of Melbourne) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Spiral (Imperial College London) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Repository for Publications and Research Data (ETH Zurich) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • ETH Zürich Research Collection (cc-by)
Funders
  • Medical Research Council, UK (G0901892)
  • BBSRC (BB/K018159/1, BB/F017324/1)
  • Imperial College Schrödinger Scholarship
  • Fellowship from the European Hematology Association
  • Funds for International Cooperation and Exchange of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81620108012)
  • UK Dementia Research Institute
  • Wellcome Trust (107839/Z/15/Z, 107841/Z/15/Z)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine › Anesthesia and Sedative Agents
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Developmental Neuroscience › Anesthesia and Neurotoxicity Research
Keywords
lateral habenula, propofol, sedation, general anesthesia, glutamatergic projections, arousal, orexin, almorexant, sleep consolidation, glutamate release
MeSH terms
Animals, Humans, Hypnotics and Sedatives, Male, Neural Pathways, Propofol, Anesthetics, Intravenous, Glutamic Acid, Habenula, Mice, HEK293 Cells

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