Executive neurons

Executive neurons
Executive neurons are the neurons in the peribrachial area that help to generate and propagate the PGO waves throughout the brain. One research paper further breaks down this "class" of neurons into two subsets: triggering neurons and transfer neurons. All of these neurons are located in the peribrachial area, which is a group of neurons surrounding the superior cerebellar penduncle.

Triggering neurons
Triggering neurons are located in the caudolateral region of the peribrachial area. These neurons actively fire during non-REM (NREM) sleep. The most recorded activity of the neurons is during the N3 stage of NREM, also known as the slow-wave sleep cycle. These same neurons are also active during REM sleep, but at a greatly reduced amplitude than NREM sleep.

Transfer neurons
Transfer neurons are the neuronal cells that allow for the transfer of PGO waves from the pons to the other parts of the brain reside on the rostral portion of the peribrachial area. This grouping of cells fire in precisely two modes. The first mode is burst firing through low-threshold Calcium (Ca2+) ion channels. The other mode is a repetitive tonic firing through Sodium (Na+) dependent ion channels.