Patterns of glial and neuronal activity during anesthesia and sleep

Sleep is conserved across evolution and is essential to key physiological processes, ranging from memory consolidation to nuclear maintenance. Anesthesia is an inducible state of unconsciousness that resembles sleep behavior. The goal of this work is to define the differences in neural patterns between anesthesia and sleep in single neuron and glia cell resolution. We aim to visualize single neurons in a selected brain region and compare neuron-glia interactions in zebrafish treated with sedation- and sleep-promoting drugs, and under natural sleep/wake conditions. Two-photon microscope imaging of genetically encoded calcium indicator is used to monitor cell activity. We found differences in neuronal and glial activity between day and nighttime sleep, and under various pharmacological treatments. The results are expected to uncover neuronal and glial activity signatures of single cells and specific neuronal networks during wakefulness, sleep, and anesthesia states.