Hypocretin neurotransmitter system and narcolepsy

Hypocretin/orexin, sleep and narcolepsy.

The discovery that hypocretins are involved in narcolepsy, a disorder associated with excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy and unusually rapid transitions to rapid-eye-movement sleep, opens a new field of investigation in the area of sleep control physiology. Hypocretin-1 and -2 (also called orexin-A and -B) are newly discovered neuropeptides processed from a common precursor, preprohypocret...

Hypocretin Pathology in Human Narcolepsy

Detection of autoantibodies against hypocretin, hcrtrl, and hcrtr2 in narcolepsy: anti-Hcrt system antibody in narcolepsy.

STUDY OBJECTIVES The impairment of hypocretin neurotransmission system is considered to play a major role in the pathophysiology of narcolepsy. It has been hypothesized that autoimmune abnormalities underlie the etiology of narcolepsy, based on the tight association with HLA-DRB1*1501/ DQB1*0602. It remains unclear if autoantibodies against hypocretin receptors (hcrtrl and hcrtr2) are involved ...

Narcolepsy A Neurodegenerative Disease of the Hypocretin System?

that narcoleptic dogs have mutations in one of the hypoIn the 2⁄2 years since hypocretin (also called orexin) was cretin receptors, the hypocretin receptor 2 (orexin 2 refirst described (de Lecea et al., 1998; Sakurai et al., ceptor) (Lin et al., 1999). Although different mutations 1998), more than 120 papers on the peptide have already were found in each of two narcoleptic breeds of dogs, been...

Narcolepsy and the Hypocretin Receptor 2 Gene

hund narcoleptics. Similar analysis of cDNA from narco-leptic Labradors showed a 123 bp deletion of exon 6 and a G to A transition in the 5Ј splice junction consensus sequence. Thus, the genetic abnormality in Doberman Human narcolepsy, a chronic disorder that occurs in narcoleptics differs from that in Labrador narcoleptics, about 1 in 3000 individuals, is characterized by (1) exces-but both i...