Research progress of narcolepsy

Fu-long XIAO, Jun ZHANG, Fang HAN

Abstract


The discovery of hypothalamus Hypocretin (Hcrt)/Orexin system and its relationship with narcolepsy is one of the major advances in sleep medicine. Hcrt/Orexin is a significant neurotransmitter in the circadian cycle of arousal. Basic research about Hcrt/Orexin system has been applied in clinical practice and the measurement of Hcrt/Orexin in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is the golden criteria and classification basis for diagnosis of narcolepsy. Breakthrough advance has been made in genetic immunology of hypothalamus Hcrt/Orexin neuronal apoptosis of narcolepsy patients. Medications aimed at Hcrt/Orexin receptors are considered to be a novel target in the treatment of sleep disorders.

 

DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1672-6731.2017.09.004


Keywords


Narcolepsy; Review

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