FENS-2020-e-Poster: Sleep- and wake-dependent changes of sleep-promoting neurons within the VLPO

Sleep is one of the most universal and essential biological process of life. Yet sleep disorders still affect up to one-third of the population and are associated with a wide range of deleterious health consequences including an increased risk of hypertension, diabetes, obesity, depression and stroke. Thus it is essential to investigate the neurobiological processes underlying sleep physiology. We here focused on a key sleep-promoting component of brain circuitry: the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus (VLPO). Aim: We characterized the circadian morpho- physiological changes occurring in the VLPO to identify new key mechanisms involved in slow-waves sleep regulation.