Genomic Differentiation of Sleep and Anesthesia: The Role of RHO GTPase and Cortical Neurons

Presentation slides for the study: "RHO GTPase by L1 GABAergic neurons in frontal cortex and L6 glutamatergic neurons in prefrontal cortex differentiates states of unconsciousness" (Scientific Reports, 2026).
Summary: While sleep and general anesthesia both induce unconsciousness, their underlying mechanisms differ. This study applies Tensor Decomposition-based Unsupervised Feature Extraction to gene expression profiles to identify the molecular distinctions between these states.
Key Findings:
• Identification of two distinct gene sets differentiating sleep from anesthesia.
• L1 GABAergic neurons in the frontal cortex and L6 glutamatergic neurons in the prefrontal cortex are proposed as key differentiating factors.
• Both mechanisms share the RHO GTPase pathway as a common molecular switch.
Methodology:
• Bioinformatics analysis using Tensor Decomposition.
• Validation using Large Language Models (LLMs) and Enrichment Analysis.
Original Paper: Taguchi, YH., Turki, T. Sci Rep 16, 60 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-29442-z

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