Neurotoxic lesions of the dorsolateral pontomesencephalic tegmentum-cholinergic cell area in the cat. II. Effects upon sleep-waking states.

Kainic acid was injected bilaterally (4.8 micrograms in 1.2 microliters each side) into the dorsolateral pontomesencephalic tegmentum of cats in order to destroy the cholinergic neurons located in that region and thus to study the effects of their destruction upon sleep-waking states. The kainic acid produced a large area of nerve cell loss and/or gliosis centered in the dorsolateral tegmentum-cholinergic cell area, that includes the pedunculopontine tegmental (PPT) and laterodorsal tegmental (LDT) nuclei rostrally (A1-P2), and the parabrachial (PB) and locus coeruleus (LC) nuclei caudally (P3-P5). The mean loss of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT)-immunoreactive neurons within this area was 60% with a range from 25% to 85% across 11 cats. The mean loss of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-immunoreactive neurons, differentially distributed through the same region, was 35% with a range of 0-50%. Whereas the kainic acid lesions appeared to have only slight effects upon wakefulness and slow-wave sleep, they had marked effects upon paradoxical sleep (PS), which varied in degree across animals. In cats with the most extensive destruction of cholinergic neurons, PS was eliminated in the first few weeks following the lesion and then reappeared as isolated episodes characterized by sparse, low amplitude PGO spikes in association with few eye movements and an activated cortex, though in absence of neck muscle atonia. Although these PS-like episodes varied in amount, they were significantly less than baseline PS in percent and in duration for the group of 11 animals over one month recording. The PGO spike rate was significantly reduced; the EMG amplitude was significantly increased, marking a loss of neck muscle atonia. The percent of PS-like epochs, the rate of PGO spiking and the EMG amplitude on postlesion day 28 were found to be significantly correlated with the volume of the lesion within the dorsolateral pontine tegmentum-cholinergic cell area. The percent PS-like episodes and PGO spike rate were significantly correlated with the number of remaining ChAT-immunoreactive neurons, but not with the number of remaining TH-immunoreactive neurons within this region. These results suggest that cholinergic pontomesencephalic neurons may be critically involved in the generation of paradoxical sleep and its phasic events.