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The Hypocretin System and Psychiatric Disorders

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Abstract

The hypocretin system is constituted by a small group of hypothalamic neurons with widespread connections within the entire central nervous system producing two neuropeptides involved in several key physiological functions such as the regulation of sleep and wakefulness, motor control, autonomic functions, metabolism, feeding behavior, and reward. Narcolepsy with cataplexy is a neurological disorder regarded as a disease model for the selective hypocretin system damage, and also shares several psychopatological traits and comorbidities with psychiatric disorders. We reviewed the available literature on the involvement of the hypocretin system in psychiatric nosography. Different evidences such as cerebrospinal hypocretin-1 levels, genetic polymorphisms of the neuropeptides or their receptors, response to treatments, clinical, experimental and functional data directly or indirectly linked the hypocretin system to schizophrenia, mood, anxiety and eating disorders, as well as to addiction. Future genetic and pharmacological studies will disentangle the hypocretin system role in the field of psychiatry.

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Conflict of Interest

Fabio Pizza, Michele Magnani, and Camilla Indrio declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Giuseppe Plazzi has served as a consultant to UCB Pharma and Jazz Pharmaceuticals, and as vice president to the European Narcolepsy Network.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Via Ugo Foscolo 7, 40123, Bologna, Italy

    Fabio Pizza, Michele Magnani, Camilla Indrio & Giuseppe Plazzi

  2. IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, ASL di Bologna, Ospedale Bellaria, Via Altura 3, 40139, Bologna, Italy

    Fabio Pizza & Giuseppe Plazzi

  3. Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche e Neuromotorie, Via Ugo Foscolo 7, 40123, Bologna, Italy

    Giuseppe Plazzi

Authors
  1. Fabio Pizza
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  2. Michele Magnani
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  3. Camilla Indrio
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  4. Giuseppe Plazzi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Giuseppe Plazzi.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Sleep Disorders

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Pizza, F., Magnani, M., Indrio, C. et al. The Hypocretin System and Psychiatric Disorders. Curr Psychiatry Rep 16, 433 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-013-0433-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-013-0433-9

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