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Dichotomous cellular properties of mouse orexin/hypocretin neurons
Author(s) -
Schöne Cornelia,
Venner Anne,
Knowles David,
Karnani Mahesh M.,
Burdakov Denis
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
the journal of physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.802
H-Index - 240
eISSN - 1469-7793
pISSN - 0022-3751
DOI - 10.1113/jphysiol.2011.208637
Subject(s) - orexin , neuroscience , ampa receptor , biology , receptor , glutamate receptor , neuropeptide , biochemistry
Non‐technical summary Orexin/hypocretin neurons are widely projecting, ‘multi‐tasking’ brain cells that promote alertness, reward seeking and feeding. They are vital for stable consciousness in higher mammals. Loss of orexin/hypocretin cells produces narcolepsy. It was originally assumed that orexin/hypocretin neurons are one uniform population of cells, but recent studies hinted that they may be split into subsystems. To explore this, we performed unbiased statistical analysis of electrical properties of orexin/hypocretin cells in combination with 3‐D analysis of their shape. Our results pointed to an existence of two subgroups of orexin/hypocretin neurons, that have unique ‘electrical fingerprints’ and distinct ways of receiving information from other neurons.