Colloquium Series 2013-2014

Victoria Booth
Departments of Mathematics and Anesthesiology
University of Michigan

Dynamics of Sleep-wake Regulation

Sleep and wake states are regulated by the interactions among a number of brainstem and hypothalamic neuronal populations and the expression of their neurotransmitters. Based on experimental studies, several different structures have been proposed for this sleep-wake regulatory network with particular debate over components involved in rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep regulation. We have developed a mathematical modeling framework that is uniquely suited for investigating the structure and dynamics of proposed sleep-wake regulatory networks. Using this framework, we are analyzing the competing proposed network structures for the regulation of REM sleep to determine how the structure of the sleep-wake regulatory network determines sleep-wake behavior and the dynamics of behavioral state transitions.