SUGAR COMA MODEL: An injection of glucose into the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus (VLPO) of the anterior hypothalamus fuels ATP production in sleep-promoting neurons located in the VLPO. This boost in cellular ATP closes potassium channels (KATP), leading to neuronal excitation and the onset of sleep. When the VLPO sleep-promoting neurons fire, they inhibit arousal-promoting areas of the brain (inset, orange; sleep-promoting areas in blue). Glucose can also reduce arousal by directly inhibiting orexin-releasing neurons.
See full infographic: WEB | PDF© KIMBERLY BATTISTA. INSET REDRAWN WITH PERMISSION FROM THIERRY GALLOPIN
The paper
C. Varin et al., “Glucose induces slow-wave sleep by exciting the sleep-promoting neurons in the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus: A new link between sleep and metabolism,” J Neurosci, 35:9900-11, 2015.
That drowsy feeling after a big meal—the so-called food coma—may actually be the result of increased neuronal activity. New research in mice suggests that sugar excites neurons in a brain region, called the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus (VLPO) of the hypothalamus, that induces sleep.
“What [the researchers] show is that these ventrolateral preoptic neurons are glucose responsive, and they show that in times of high glucose, they fire more,” says Harvard University neuroscientist Clifford Saper, who was not involved with the study. “If you’ve ever had a big meal, and you get sleepy afterward...this may ...
