ABSTRACT
The parabrachial nucleus (PB)is made up of gray matter around the Pons combination(BC),mainly consisting of glutamatergic,GABAergic and enkephalinergic neurons.PB is connected to hypothalamus and basal forebrain through a network of nerve fibers.Specific lesion of the entire parabrachial complex in animals leads to a deep coma.PB also projects to the non-rapid eye movement(NREM)-related regions including the ven-trolateral preoptic,and receives the projections from the parafa-cial zone.Activation of the GABAergic neurons in parafacial zone can promote NREM sleep,which indicates that PB partici-pates in NREM sleep.Furthermore,the lateral PB is actived when rapid eye movement(REM)sleep is deprived.In conclu-sion,PB participates in regulating wakefulness, NREM and REM sleep.This review summarizes the advances in the roles of PB in sleep-wake regulation.