title: Narcoleptic episodes in orexin-deficient mice are increased by both attractive and aversive odors.
abstract: Orexin-deficient mice are an established animal model for narcolepsy. In human patients, narcoleptic events are mainly triggered by emotional events. However, the role of emotional stimuli in murine narcolepsy is not well understood. The present study investigated the effects of attractive and aversive odor stimuli, i.e., urine samples of coyote and female mice, on narcoleptic episodes (cataplexy, sleep attacks) in orexin-deficient mice. Here, we first demonstrate that exposure to both attractive and aversive odors significantly increase the number of narcoleptic episodes in orexin-deficient mice. This behavioral paradigm may be of high interest for studies focused on the question how emotions can trigger narcoleptic episodes.
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychiatry, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morawska
authors.forename: Mélanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Buchi
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fendt
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D046029:Coyotes / Q000652:urine; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL / Q000652:urine; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D009290:Narcolepsy / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D009479:Neuropeptides / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D009812:Odorants; D055696:Olfactory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D000068797:Orexins
chemical_list: D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D009479:Neuropeptides; D000068797:Orexins