Narcolepsy with cataplexy is a lifelong disease resulting from the loss of hypocretin neurons in the hypothalamus; structural changes are not, however, limited only to the hypothalamus.
Impaired neurotransmission of hypocretin/orexin (neuropeptides of the lateral hypothalamus) is involved in the neurobiology of narcolepsy with cataplexy (NT1).
White matter alterations related to hypocretin pathway have been less evaluated in patients who have narcolepsy with cataplexy (NC), as compared to the identified exploration of gray matter and have varied among structural brain magnetic resonance imaging studies.
Narcolepsy with cataplexy is a neurological sleep disorder, which is believed to arise from the autoimmune destruction of hypocretin-producing neurons.
Therefore narcolepsy type 1 (narcolepsy-cataplexy) is a well-defined syndrome, with the presentation clearly related to the known consequences of destruction of hypocretin/orexin neurons.
The sleep disorder narcolepsy with cataplexy is characterized by a highly specific loss of hypocretin (orexin) neurons, leading to the hypothesis that the condition is caused by an immune or autoimmune mechanism.
Narcolepsy with cataplexy is most commonly caused by an immune-mediated process including genetic and environmental factors, resulting in the selective loss of hypocretin-producing neurons.
The aim is to address the involvement of miRNAs in the pathophysiology of central hypersomnias including autoimmune narcolepsy with cataplexy and hypocretin deficiency (type 1 narcolepsy), narcolepsy without cataplexy (type 2 narcolepsy), and idiopathic hypersomnia.
This results were comparable with other authors, confirming the utility of using specific biomarkers (HLA-DQB1*0602 allele and Hypocretin-1 CSF level) in narcolepsy with cataplexy.
As disruption of orexin (hypocretin) signaling is a primary defect in narcolepsy with cataplexy, we investigated whether markers of cholinergic synaptic transmission might be altered in mice constitutively lacking orexin receptors (double receptor knockout; DKO). mRNA for Choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT) and the high-affinity choline transporter (CHT1) but not acetylcholinesterase (AChE) was significantly higher in samples from DKO than wild-type (WT) mice.