Dr Diogo Pimentel - 'Operation of a Homeostatic Sleep Switch’
Sleep disconnects animals from the external world, at considerable risks and costs that must be offset by a vital benefit. Insight into the nature of this mysterious benefit will likely come from understanding sleep homeostasis: to monitor sleep need, an internal bookkeeper must track physiological changes that are intimately linked to the core function of sleep. In Drosophila, a crucial component of the machinery for sleep homeostasis is a cluster of neurons innervating the dorsal fan-shaped body (dFB) of the central complex. Artificial activation of these cells induces sleep, whereas reductions in excitability cause insomnia. I will present evidence that homeostatic sleep control works by switching these sleep-promoting neurons between active and quiescent states. State switching involves the antagonistic modulation of two identified potassium conductances by the neuromodulator dopamine.
Date: 13 May 2016, 13:30
Venue: Sherrington Building, off Parks Road OX1 3PT
Venue Details: DPAG Large Lecture Theatre, Sherrington Building, off Parks/South Parks Road, OX1 3PT T: 01865 272500
Speaker: Dr Diogo Pimentel (DPAG, University of Oxford)
Organising department: Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics (DPAG)
Organiser: Sarah Noujaim (University of Oxford, Department of Physiology Anatomy and Genetics)
Organiser contact email address: sarah.noujaim@dpag.ox.ac.uk
Part of: DPAG Head of Department Seminar Series
Topics:
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Sarah Noujaim