Many papers on hypocretins/orexins begin with a list of the functions they regulate. Included in these lists are some of the following: sleep, food intake, water intake, gastric acid secretion, blood pressure, heart rate, movement, muscle tone, arousal, release of lutenizing hormone, corticosterone, insulin, growth hormone and prolactin. It is also reported that hypocretin/orexin coordinates mo...

Neurons in the lateral hypothalamus (LH) that contain hypocretin/orexin have been established as important promoters of arousal. Deficiencies in the hypocretin/orexin system lead to narcolepsy. The inhibition of hypocretin/orexin neurons by sleep-promoting neurotransmitters has been suggested as one part of the sleep regulation machinery. Adenosine has been identified as a sleep promoter and it...

Neurons in the lateral hypothalamus (LH) that contain hypocretin/orexin have been established as important promoters of arousal. Deficiencies in the hypocretin/orexin system lead to narcolepsy. The inhibition of hypocretin/orexin neurons by sleep-promoting neurotransmitters has been suggested as one part of the sleep regulation machinery. Adenosine has been identified as a sleep promoter and it...

Wakefulness depends on the activity of hypocretin-orexin neurons because their lesion results in narcolepsy. How these neurons maintain their activity to promote wakefulness is not known. Here, by recording for the first time from hypocretin-orexin neurons and comparing their properties with those of neurons expressing melanin-concentrating hormone, we show that hypocretin-orexin neurons are in...

Abstract The hypocretin/orexin system regulates arousal through central nervous mechanisms and plays an important role in sleep, wakefulness energy homeostasis. It is unclear whether hypocretin peptides are also present blood due to difficulties measuring reliable reproducible levels of the samples. Lack signalling causes sleep disorder narcolepsy type 1, low concentration cerebrospinal fluid h...

introduction: orexin-a and b (hypocretin 1 and 2) are neuropeptides that are mostly expressed in the posterior and lateral hypothalamus (lh). intracisternal (icv) and intratechal (it) injections of orexin-a (hypocretin-1) have been shown to elicit analgesic responses in formalin test. however, the locations of central sites that may mediate these effects have not been clearly elucidated. orexin...

A series of recent studies has established the orexin/hypocretin system as a critical regulator of sleep/wake states. Its deficiency results in the sleep disorder narcolepsy in humans, dogs, and rodents. These findings have brought about the possibility of novel therapies for sleep disorders including narcolepsy and insomnia. Moreover, accumulating evidence indicates that the orexin/hypocretin ...

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is still the poorest prognostic tumor of the digestive system. We investigated the antitumoral role of orexin-A and almorexant in PDAC. We analyzed the orexin receptor type 1 (OX1R) expression by immunohistochemistry in human normal pancreas, PDAC and its precursor dysplastic intraepithelial lesions. We used PDAC-derived cell lines and fresh tissue slices...

Increasing evidence has suggested that patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may present with a deficit of alertness and sleep disturbances. Recent studies have also pointed out a previously underestimated association between ADHD and abnormal eating behaviors, including binge eating. Since sleep/alertness disturbances and eating disorders may significantly increase the ...

The sleep disorder narcolepsy results from loss of hypothalamic orexin/hypocretin neurons. Although narcolepsy onset is usually postpubertal, current mouse models involve loss of either orexin peptides or orexin neurons from birth. To create a model of orexin/hypocretin deficiency with closer fidelity to human narcolepsy, diphtheria toxin A (DTA) was expressed in orexin neurons under control of...