Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Matching arousal state to an animal's behavioral demands is crucial for efficiently allocating cognitive and metabolic resources. Prior studies implicate cortical noradrenergic (NA) signaling in behavioral state changes, but whether this reflects a global signal and how it affects arousal remain unclear. Here, we examine the locus coeruleus (LC), the main source of cortical norepinephrine, in movement transitions and clarify its arousal-promoting potential during emergence from anesthesia. Using physiological recordings, fiber photometry, optogenetics, and behavioral tracking, we show that LC NA activity covaries with anesthetic depth and that LC NA activation coincides with the return of movement during anesthetic emergence. Likewise, in awake animals, movement transitions are coupled to distinct patterns of LC NA activity. LC NA activation can increase sympathetic arousal under anesthesia, but LC NA modulation does not significantly affect anesthetic emergence. Together, these studies reveal LC NA to have a more limited causal role in promoting behavioral arousal and a nuanced effect on arousal coupled to movement.
Source: Cell Reports
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $5,620
Awards: G287643686, G3195602816, G4138977392, G4480946400, G4765541262, G6550798546, Decoding Locus Coeruleus Neural Circuits and Signaling In Negative Affect, Unraveling the Locus Coeruleus Circuitry in Opioidinduced Sleep Disturbances, University of Washington Center of Excellence in Opioid Addiction Research
OpenAlex ID: W4416591260