title: Sleep related changes in blood pressure in hypocretin-deficient narcoleptic mice.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although blood pressure during sleep and the difference in blood pressure between sleep and wakefulness carry prognostic information, little is known on their central neural mechanisms. Hypothalamic neurons releasing hypocretin (orexin) peptides control wake-sleep behavior and autonomic functions and are lost in narcolepsy-cataplexy. We investigated whether chronic lack of hypocretin signaling alters blood pressure during sleep.
  
  
  METHODS
  Comparison of blood pressure as a function of the wake-sleep behavior between 2 different hypocretin-deficient mouse models and control mice with the same genetic background.
  
  
  METHODS
  N/A.
  
  
  METHODS
  Hypocretin-ataxin3 transgenic mice with genetic ablation of hypocretin neurons (TG, n = 12); hypocretin gene knock-out mice (KO, n = 8); congenic wild-type controls (WT, n = 10).
  
  
  METHODS
  Instrumentation with electrodes for sleep recordings and a telemetric blood pressure transducer.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Blood pressure was significantly higher in either TG or KO than in WT during non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREMS; 4 ± 2 and 7 ± 2 mm Hg, respectively) and rapid eye movement sleep (REMS; 11 ± 2 and 12 ± 3 mm Hg, respectively), whereas it did not differ significantly between groups during wakefulness. Accordingly, the decrease in blood pressure between either NREMS or REMS and wakefulness was significantly blunted in TG and KO with respect to WT.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Chronic lack of hypocretin signaling may entail consequences on blood pressure that are potentially adverse and that vary widely among wake-sleep states.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisiologia Umana e Generale, Alma Mater Studiorum-Università di Bologna, Piazza di Porta San Donato 2, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bastianini
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Silvani
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Berteotti
authors.forename: Jean-Luc
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Elghozi
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Franzini
authors.forename: Pierluigi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lenzi
authors.forename: Viviana
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Lo Martire
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zoccoli
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004576:Electromyography; D006339:Heart Rate; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000172:deficiency; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D009290:Narcolepsy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009479:Neuropeptides / Q000172:deficiency; D000068797:Orexins; D012890:Sleep; D014851:Wakefulness
chemical_list: D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D009479:Neuropeptides; D000068797:Orexins