orexin receptor agonist tagged posts

Orexin image provided by researchers. Credit: Image courtesy of University of Tsukuba

A potent compound that promotes wakefulness and remedies the sleep disorder narcolepsy in model animals has been developed by a team of scientists. The compound works to mimic the action of a wake-promoting substance in our brain called “orexin.”.

Orexin, discovered in 1998 by Yanagisawa, is a neuropeptide that plays a central role in maintaining wakefulness. Its deficiency causes narcolepsy, in which patients experience excessive daytime sleepiness, often falling asleep uncontrollably. Patients also suffer from symptoms such as cataplexy (sudden loss of muscle tone triggered by emotion), vivid hallucinations when going into or out of sleep, and sleep paralysis...