Researchers find new sleep-promoting cells.

Johns Hopkins researchers report the unexpected presence of a type of neuron in the brains of mice that appears to play a central role in promoting sleep by turning ‘off’ wake-promoting neurons. The newly identified brain cells, located in a part of the hypothalamus called the zona incerta, they say, could offer novel drug targets to treat sleep disorders, such as insomnia and narcolepsy, caused by the dysfunction of sleep-regulating neurons.

A summary of the research, published August 31 in Nature, describes neurons that express a gene called Lhx6. Lhx6-expressing cells had not been observed in this area…