Charlotte Yates, of UCA’s Department of Physical Therapy, participated in the discovery of a new brain mechanism that may help explain how human beings wake up, as well as how certain anesthetics put us to sleep and how certain stimulants wake us up.
Yates joined researchers from UAMS in the first published study on this topic, which found that some neurons in the reticular activating system, a region of the brain that controls sleep-wake states, are electrically coupled. The study, “Evidence for Electrical Coupling in the SubCoeruleus (SubC) Nucleus,” documenting this cellular new mechanism, was published in the April issue of the Journal of Neurophysiology. In June, the research team presented additional findings at the annual meeting of the Associated for Professional Sleep Societies in Minneapolis.
According to a UAMS press release, the research article was accompanied by an editorial that called the finding “seminal” in the field of sleep-wake research.
“The findings of [the researchers] provide novel and exciting avenues for understanding sleep-wake control as well as for the treatment of sleep and arousal disorders,” said the editorial.
