Narcolepsy-cataplexy humans

Severe narcolepsy-cataplexy comparable to the human disorder. 

Severe narcolepsy-cataplexy comparable to the human disorder. Cataplectic episodes can be separated from wakefulness-REM sleep transitions... 

Mignot E, Lin L, Rogers W, HondaY, Qiu X, LinX, Okun M, Hohjoh H, Miki T, Hsu S et al. (2001) Complex HLA-DR and -DQ interactions confer risk of narcolepsy-cataplexy in three ethnic groups. Am J Human Genet 68 686-699... 

Narcolepsy, a sleep disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness and cataplexy, may be caused by the lack of hypocretin mRNA and peptides in humans (Peyron et al., 2000) or a disruption of the hypocretin receptor 2 or its ligand in dogs and mice (Lin et al., 1999 Chemelli et al., 1999). Hypocretin-containing neurons are located exclusively in the dorsomedial, lateral, and perifornical hypothalamic areas (Peyron et al., 1998). Two hypocretin sequences, Hcrt-1 (orexin-A) and Hcrt-2 (orexin-B), are generated from a single preprohypocretin (De Lecea et al., 1998 Peyron et al, 1998 Sakurai et al, 1998). Axons from these neurons are found in the hypothalamus, locus coeruleus (LC), raphe nuclei, tuberomamillary nucleus, midline thalamus, all levels of spinal cord, sympathetic and parasympathetic centers, and many other brain regions... 

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