Abstract: | D. G. Rainnie et al., in their report "Adenosine inhibition of mesopontine cholinergic neurons: Implications for EEG arousal" (4 Feb., p. 689), suggested that adenosine may mediate sleep-debt related potentiation of EEG slow-wave activity in non-REM sleep. This is similar to a hypothesis proposed by J. H. Benington et al. [Sleep Res. 22, 4 (1993)]. Rainnie et al. suggested that adenosine exerts this effect by means of inhibition of mesopontine cholinergic neurons rather than by direct inhibition of neurons in the cerebral cortex. |