Wakefulness, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep are characterized by distinct electroencephalogram (EEG), electromyogram (EMG), and autonomic profiles. The circuit mechanism coordinating these changes during sleep-wake transitions remains poorly understood. The past few years have witnessed rapid progress in the identification of REM and NREM sleep neurons, which constitute highly distributed networks spanning the forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain. Here we propose an arousal-action circuit for sleep-wake control in which wakefulness is supported by separate arousal and action neurons, while REM and NREM sleep neurons are part of the central somatic and autonomic motor circuits. This model is well supported by the currently known sleep and wake neurons. It can also account for the EEG, EMG, and autonomic profiles of wake, REM, and NREM states and several key features of their transitions. The intimate association between the sleep and autonomic/somatic motor control circuits suggests that a primary function of sleep is to suppress motor activity.

中文翻译：

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睡眠-唤醒控制的电机理论：唤醒动作电路。

醒觉，快速眼动（REM）睡眠和非快速眼动（NREM）睡眠的特征在于明显的脑电图（EEG），肌电图（EMG）和自主神经特征。在睡眠-唤醒转换期间协调这些变化的电路机制仍然知之甚少。在过去的几年中，REM和NREM睡眠神经元的识别迅速发展，它们构成了分布在前脑，中脑和后脑的高度分布的网络。在这里，我们提出了一种用于觉醒控制的觉醒动作电路，其中，觉醒由单独的觉醒和动作神经元支持，而REM和NREM睡眠神经元是中央体细胞和自主神经运动电路的一部分。当前已知的睡眠和唤醒神经元很好地支持了该模型。它也可以解释脑电图，肌电图，以及唤醒，REM和NREM状态的自主曲线及其过渡的几个关键特征。睡眠与自主/躯体运动控制电路之间的密切联系表明，睡眠的主要功能是抑制运动活动。