• Quanhui Chen, Luis de Lecea, Zhian Hu, and Dong Gao.
• Department of Physiology, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China; Department of Sleep and Psychology, Institute of Surgery Research, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China.
• Med Res Rev. 2015 Jan 1; 35 (1): 152-97.

AbstractHypocretins, also named as orexins, are excitatory neuropeptides secreted by neurons specifically located in lateral hypothalamus and perifornical areas. Orexinergic fibers are extensively distributed in various brain regions and involved in a number of physiological functions, such as arousal, cognition, stress, appetite, and metabolism. Arousal is the most important function of orexin system as dysfunction of orexin signaling leads to narcolepsy. In addition to narcolepsy, orexin dysfunction is associated with serious neural disorders, including addiction, depression, and anxiety. However, some results linking orexin with these disorders are still contradictory, which may result from differences of detection methods or the precision of tools used in measurements; strategies targeted to orexin system (e.g., antagonists to orexin receptors, gene delivery, and cell transplantation) are promising new tools for treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders, though studies are still in a stage of preclinical or clinical research. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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