Calretinin Neurons in the Midline Thalamus Modulate Starvation-Induced Arousal

Orchestration of sleep and feeding behavior is essential for organismal health and survival. Although sleep deprivation promotes feeding and starvation suppresses sleep, the underlying neural mechanisms remain largely unknown. Here, we showed that starvation in mice potently promoted arousal and activated calretinin neurons (CR+) in the paraventricular thalamus (PVT). Direct activation of PVT neurons promoted arousal, and their activity was necessary for starvation-induced sleep suppression. Specifically, the PVT-bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) circuit rapidly initiated arousal. Selective inhibition of BNST-projecting PVT neurons opposed arousal during starvation. Taken together, our results define a cell-type-specific neural circuitry modulating starvation-induced arousal and coordinating the conflict between sleeping and feeding.