Abstract:
Glial astrocytes mediate many important aspects of neural homeostasis, but until recently, their role in sleep was largely unknown. The situation has dramatically changed in the last decade. The use of transgenic animals, optogenetics, chemogenetics, brain imaging, and ophisticated molecular assays has led to exciting discoveries. Astrocytes dynamically change their activity across the sleep-wake cycle and may encode sleep need via changes in intracellular signaling pathways. Astrocytes also exocytose/secrete sleep-inducing molecules which modulate brain activity, sleep architecture, and sleep regulation. I discuss findings from our laboratory that have contributed to this revolution in our thinking about the role of glia in sleep.