Comprehensive gene profiling of the hypothalamic hypocretin neurons, high resolution imaging and behavioral assays have revealed the molecular signature of these versatile neurons and identified a potassium channel that is required for nighttime sleep.
Experiments in genetically modified zebrafish that are unable to produce norepinephrine show that this neurotransmitter promotes wakefulness by mediating the effects of the neuropeptide hypocretin.
The identification of evolutionarily-derived changes in Hypocretin function within the brains of short-sleeping Mexican cavefish provides a system for investigating the mechanistic basis of sleep differences throughout the animal kingdom.
New transgenic mice, which can be ablated both orexin neurons and MCH neurons, showed new brain state and revealed functional interaction that MCH neurons have protective role in narcolepsy symptoms.
A comparative approach shows that developmental evolution of neuropeptidergic neuronal groups in the hypothalamus of blind cavefish drives adaptive behavioral evolution.
Phenotypic evolution can originate from variations in very precocious developmental events, starting even before fecundation, during the fabrication of the egg in the mother's gonad.
Brain imaging and behavioral analysis reveal two opposing states of hunger, represented by anti-correlated lateral and caudal hypothalamic dynamics that are important for the homeostatic control of feeding in zebrafish.
Functional identification of GABAergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area as a important neuronal subpopulation regulating non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep in mice.
