) The long-term goal of this project is to further the understanding of how emotional factors influence sleep. Emotional state has a strong influence on sleep quality and amount. This statement can be attested to by almost everyone, and it is factually supported by the observed role of emotional factors in human sleep medicine, particularly sleep disorders related to a psychiatric condition. However, the role of emotion has virtually been ignored in basic sleep research, possibly because of the lack of a clear anatomical focus, or perhaps because of a lack of established models. It is now becoming increasingly apparent that the amygdala, the limbic center of emotion, has a strong modulatory role in the control of sleep. Inbred mouse strains are being examined in order to find models of anxiety and mood disorders. The investigators plan to study sleep in inbred mouse strains with differences in emotional reactivity in order to begin to understand how genetics and the environment interact in producing the effects of emotion on sleep. The investigators' strategy is to : 1) establish protocols for studying how emotion affects sleep in inbred mouse strains, 2) identify the anatomical regions that could account for strain differences in emotional reactivity as it affects sleep, and 3) determine the functional significance of these regions in the control of emotion and sleep. To accomplish these goals, the investigators will examine the effect of fear conditioning on sleep, identify the activated brain areas that affect sleep and examine the function of these regions by selectively preventing their activation in response to fear conditioning. These studies will help elucidate into how stress, emotion and environmental factors influence sleep. This work will advance the understanding of how stress and anxiety affect sleep and may give insight into sleep disorders such as insomnia and into mental disorders in which sleep is affected. The investigators findings may be especially relevant to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is typically characterized by a prominent sleep disturbance in the aftermath of exposure to a psychologically traumatic stressor.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01MH061716-04
Application #
6539124
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZHL1-CSR-R (S1))
Program Officer
Quinn, Kevin J
Project Start
1999-09-30
Project End
2005-05-31
Budget Start
2002-06-01
Budget End
2005-05-31
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2002
Total Cost
$319,602
Indirect Cost
Name
Eastern Virginia Medical School
Department
Pathology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
City
Norfolk
State
VA
Country
United States
Zip Code
23501
Machida, Mayumi; Yang, Linghui; Wellman, Laurie L et al. (2013) Effects of stressor predictability on escape learning and sleep in mice. Sleep 36:421-30
Zeng, Tao; Mott, Christopher; Mollicone, Daniel et al. (2012) Automated determination of wakefulness and sleep in rats based on non-invasively acquired measures of movement and respiratory activity. J Neurosci Methods 204:276-87
Yang, L; Wellman, L L; Tang, X et al. (2011) Effects of corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) on sleep and body temperature following controllable footshock stress in mice. Physiol Behav 104:886-92
Liu, Xianling; Wellman, Laurie L; Yang, Linghui et al. (2011) Antagonizing corticotropin-releasing factor in the central nucleus of the amygdala attenuates fear-induced reductions in sleep but not freezing. Sleep 34:1539-49
Yang, Linghui; Wellman, Laurie L; Ambrozewicz, Marta A et al. (2011) Effects of stressor predictability and controllability on sleep, temperature, and fear behavior in mice. Sleep 34:759-71
Sanford, Larry D; Yang, Linghui; Wellman, Laurie L et al. (2010) Differential effects of controllable and uncontrollable footshock stress on sleep in mice. Sleep 33:621-30
Liu, X; Tang, X; Sanford, L D (2009) Stressor controllability and Fos expression in stress regulatory regions in mice. Physiol Behav 97:321-6
Liu, Xianling; Yang, Linghui; Wellman, Laurie L et al. (2009) GABAergic antagonism of the central nucleus of the amygdala attenuates reductions in rapid eye movement sleep after inescapable footshock stress. Sleep 32:888-96
Yang, Linghui; Tang, Xiangdong; Wellman, Laurie L et al. (2009) Corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) modulates fear-induced alterations in sleep in mice. Brain Res 1276:112-22
Tang, Xiangdong; Yang, Linghui; Fishback, Nancy F et al. (2009) Differential effects of lorazepam on sleep and activity in C57BL/6J and BALB/cJ strain mice. J Sleep Res 18:365-73

Showing the most recent 10 out of 29 publications