The sleep-onset period of 10 drug-free patients with narcolepsy-cataplexy and 10 normals matched for age and gender was investigated using the multiple sleep latency test to elicit episodes of intentional sleep onset. Spectral analyses were calculated for delta, theta, alpha, sigma, and beta frequencies using 5-second epochs beginning at lights-out and continuing until the first 2 minutes of st...

To investigate the pathophysiology of narcoleptic patients' sleep in detail, we analysed and compared the whole-night polysomnograms of narcoleptic patients and normal human subjects. Eight drug-naive narcoleptic patients and eight age-matched normal volunteers underwent polysomnography (PSG) on two consecutive nights. In addition to conventional visual scoring of the polysomnograms, rapid eye ...

Hypocretin receptor-2 (Hcrt-r2)-mutated dogs exhibit all the major symptoms of human narcolepsy and respond to drugs that increase or decrease cataplexy as do narcoleptic humans; yet, unlike narcoleptic humans, the narcoleptic dogs have normal hypocretin levels. We find that drugs that reduce or increase cataplexy in the narcoleptic dogs, greatly increase and decrease, respectively, hypocretin ...

OBJECTIVE This pioneering study aimed to evaluate executive attention and working memory in Brazilian narcoleptic outpatients. METHODS Narcoleptic group: 19 treated narcoleptic outpatients (13 F; 6 M) (mean age=37.58; SD = 8.93); control group: 19 subjects (15 F; 4 M) (mean age=34.42; SD=12.31). INSTRUMENTS Epworth Sleepiness Scale - Brazilian Portuguese Version (ESS-BR), Victoria Stroop Te...

Basal forebrain (BF) cholinergic regulation of cataplexy was investigated in narcoleptic canines. Specific cholinergic agonists and antagonists, and excitatory or inhibitory amino acid neurotransmitter receptor agonists, were perfused through microdialysis probes implanted bilaterally in the BF of narcoleptic canines. Cataplexy was monitored using the food-elicited cataplexy test (FECT) and rec...

Cataplexy in the narcoleptic canine has been shown to increase after local administration of carbachol into the pontine reticular formation. Rapid eye movement sleep has also been shown to increase after local administration of carbachol in the pontine reticular formation, and furthermore, acetylcholine release in the pontine tegmentum was found to increase during rapid eye movement sleep in ra...

Cataplexy in the narcoleptic canine has been shown to increase after systemic administration of cholinergic agonists. Furthermore, the number of cholinergic receptors in the pontine reticular formation of narcoleptic canines is significantly elevated. In the present study we have investigated the effects of cholinergic drugs administered directly into the pontine reticular formation on cataplex...

Narcolepsy is a disorder of unknown etiology. It is characterized by excessive sleepiness that is typically associated with cataplexy and other Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep phenomena, such as sleep paralysis and hypnagogic hallucinations. When administering general anesthesia to patients with narcolepsy, delayed emergence after general anesthesia, post-operative hypersomnia and drug interacti...

Narcoleptic patients suffer frequently from obesity and type II diabetes. Most patients show a deficit in the energy balance regulating orexinergic system. Nevertheless, it is not known, why narcoleptic patients tend to be obese. We examined 116 narcoleptic patients and 80 controls with the structured interview for anorectic and bulimic eating disorders (SIAB) to test the hypothesis that typica...