External stimulus causing excitement such as laughter by a joke augments the amygdala activity. In narcolepsy patient (left) lacking orexin neurons, activities of the amygdala become excessive, causing cataplexy. In healthy person (right), orexin neurons augment the activities of serotonin neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus, which reduce activities of the amygdala due to increased release of serotonin in the amygdala, which in turn inhibits cataplexy. Credit: Kanazawa University
The brain is equipped with sleep mechanism and wakefulness mechanism, which are regulated to be on or off in an adequate manner. It is orexin*1 that is important in regulating this switch...
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