PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Scientists shed light on the brain mechanisms behind a debilitating sleep disorder

Researchers at the University of Toronto discover how the body's muscles accidentally fall asleep while awake

2013-10-11
(Press-News.org) Normally muscles contract in order to support the body, but in a rare condition known as cataplexy the body's muscles "fall asleep" and become involuntarily paralyzed. Cataplexy is incapacitating because it leaves the affected individual awake, but either fully or partially paralyzed. It is one of the bizarre symptoms of the sleep disorder called narcolepsy.

"Cataplexy is characterized by muscle paralysis during cognitive awareness, but we didn't understand how this happened until now, said John Peever of the University of Toronto's Department of Cell & Systems Biology. "We have shown that the neuro-degeneration of the brain cells that synthesize the chemical hypocretin causes the noradrenaline system to malfunction. When the norandrenaline system stops working properly, it fails to keep the motor and cognitive systems coupled. This results in cataplexy – the muscles fall asleep but the brain stays awake."

Peever and Christian Burgess, also of Cell & Systems Biology used hypocretin-knockout mice (mice that experience cataplexy), to demonstate that a dysfunctional relationship between the noradrenaline system and the hypocretin-producing system is behind cataplexy. The research was recently published in the journal Current Biology in September.

The scientists first established that mice experienced sudden loss of muscle tone during cataplectic episodes. They then administered drugs to systematically inhibit or activate a particular subset of adrenergic receptors, the targets of noradrenaline. They were able to reduce the incidence of cataplexy by 90 per cent by activating noradrenaline receptors. In contrast, they found that inhibiting the same receptors increased the incidence of cataplexy by 92 per cent. Their next step was to successfully link how these changes affect the brain cells that directly control muscles.

They found that noradrenaline is responsible for keeping the brain cells (motoneurons) and muscles active. But during cataplexy when muscle tone falls, noradrenaline levels disappear. This forces the muscle to relax and causes paralysis during cataplexy. Peever and Burgess found that restoring noradrenaline pre-empted cataplexy, confirming that the noradrenaline system plays a key role.

INFORMATION:

CONTACT:

John Peever
Cell & Systems Biology
University of Toronto
Tel: 416-946-5564
Mobile: 647-207-7920
John.peever@utoronto.ca

Kim Luke
Communications, Faculty of Arts & Science
University of Toronto
416-978-4352
Kim.luke@utoronto.ca

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Ancient DNA reveals multiple stages of settlement in Europe

2013-10-11
WASHINGTON—Research conducted by the National Geographic Genographic Project, a multiyear global initiative that uses DNA to map the history of human migration, is helping unravel the timing and source of human settlement in Central Europe. New ancient-DNA research led by the National Geographic Society's Genographic Project, the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD) and researchers from the University of Mainz in Germany and the State Heritage Museum in Halle (Germany) showed a pattern of genetic replacement taking place across several millennia in a region of central ...

Unregulated, agricultural ammonia threatens national parks' ecology

2013-10-11
Cambridge, Mass. – October 10, 2013 – Thirty-eight U.S. national parks are experiencing "accidental fertilization" at or above a critical threshold for ecological damage, according to a study published in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics and led by Harvard University researchers. Unless significant controls on ammonia emissions are introduced at a national level, they say, little improvement is likely between now and 2050. The environmental scientists, experts in air quality, atmospheric chemistry, and ecology, have been studying the fate of nitrogen-based ...

Rice University mix of graphene nanoribbons, polymer has potential for cars, soda, beer

2013-10-11
A discovery at Rice University aims to make vehicles that run on compressed natural gas more practical. It might also prolong the shelf life of bottled beer and soda. The Rice lab of chemist James Tour has enhanced a polymer material to make it far more impermeable to pressurized gas and far lighter than the metal in tanks now used to contain the gas. The combination could be a boon for an auto industry under pressure to market consumer cars that use cheaper natural gas. It could also find a market in food and beverage packaging. Tour and his colleagues at Rice and ...

New device harnesses sun and sewage to produce hydrogen fuel

2013-10-11
A novel device that uses only sunlight and wastewater to produce hydrogen gas could provide a sustainable energy source while improving the efficiency of wastewater treatment. A research team led by Yat Li, associate professor of chemistry at the University of California, Santa Cruz, developed the solar-microbial device and reported their results in a paper published in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Nano. The hybrid device combines a microbial fuel cell (MFC) and a type of solar cell called a photoelectrochemical cell (PEC). In the MFC component, bacteria ...

How research ecologists can benefit urban design projects

2013-10-11
Ecologists conducting field research usually study areas that they hope won't be disturbed for a while. But in an article published in the November issue of BioScience, "Mapping the Design Process for Urban Ecology Researchers," Alexander Felson of Yale University and his colleagues describe how ecologists can perform hypothesis-driven research from the start of design through the construction and monitoring phases of major urban projects. The results from such "designed experiments" can provide site-specific data that improve how the projects are conceptualized, built ...

Well-child visits more likely when parents use online health tools

2013-10-11
HONOLULU, October 11, 2013 — Young children whose parents used an integrated personal health record were more likely to attend six or more of the nationally recommended well-child care visits by 15 months of age, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published today in The Journal of Pediatrics. Using any Web-enabled device, PHRs allow patients to view parts of their medical record, including immunizations and after-visit instructions, manage appointments, refill prescriptions, check lab results, and securely communicate with their health care providers. In this retrospective ...

Study: Herbal products omit ingredients, contain fillers

2013-10-11
Consumers of natural health products beware. The majority of herbal products on the market contain ingredients not listed on the label, with most companies substituting cheaper alternatives and using fillers, according to new research from the University of Guelph. The study, published today in the open access journal BMC Medicine, used DNA barcoding technology to test 44 herbal products sold by 12 companies. Only two of the companies provided authentic products without substitutions, contaminants or fillers. Overall, nearly 60 per cent of the herbal products contained ...

Healthier diets possible in low-income, rural communities in America

2013-10-11
Philadelphia, PA, October 11, 2013 – In the United States, children don't eat enough fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Instead, their diets typically include excessive amounts of sugars and solid fats, counter to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommendations, increasing the risk of obesity and diabetes. A team of investigators implemented a two-year intervention study in low-income, rural areas where a disproportionately higher risk of overweight and obesity habits among children persists, leading to increased risk of diabetes and heart disease in adulthood. ...

Med schools improve conflict-of-interest standards, yet much room for progress remains

2013-10-11
New York, NY— U.S. medical schools have made significant progress to strengthen their management of clinical conflicts of interest (CCOI), but a new study demonstrates that most schools still lag behind national standards. The Institute on Medicine as a Profession (IMAP) study, which compared changes in schools' policies in a dozen areas from 2008 to 2011, reveals that institutions are racing from the bottom to the middle, not to the top. In 2011, nearly two-thirds of medical schools still lacked policies to limit ties to industry in at least one area explored, including ...

US health spending projected to grow an average of 5.8 percent annually through 2022

2013-10-10
Bethesda, MD -- New estimates released 9/18/13 from the Office of the Actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) project that aggregate health care spending in the United States will grow at an average annual rate of 5.8 percent for 2012-22, or 1.0 percentage point faster than the expected growth in the gross domestic product (GDP). The health care share of GDP by 2022 is projected to rise to 19.9 percent from its 2011 level of 17.9 percent. The findings appeared as a Health Affairs Web First article, which is published in the October issue. The article ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Public take the lead in discovery of new exploding star

What are they vaping? Study reveals alarming surge in adolescent vaping of THC, CBD, and synthetic cannabinoids

ECMWF - delivering forecasts over 10 times faster and cutting energy usage by 1000

Brazilian neuroscientist reveals how viral infections transform the brain through microscopic detective work

Turning social fragmentation into action through discovering relatedness

Cheese may really be giving you nightmares, scientists find

Study reveals most common medical emergencies in schools

Breathable yet protective: Next-gen medical textiles with micro/nano networks

Frequency-engineered MXene supercapacitors enable efficient pulse charging in TENG–SC hybrid systems

Developed an AI-based classification system for facial pigmented lesions

Achieving 20% efficiency in halogen-free organic solar cells via isomeric additive-mediated sequential processing

New book Terraglossia reclaims language, Country and culture

The most effective diabetes drugs don't reach enough patients yet

Breast cancer risk in younger women may be influenced by hormone therapy

Strategies for staying smoke-free after rehab

Commentary questions the potential benefit of levothyroxine treatment of mild hypothyroidism during pregnancy

Study projects over 14 million preventable deaths by 2030 if USAID defunding continues

New study reveals 33% gap in transplant access for UK’s poorest children

Dysregulated epigenetic memory in early embryos offers new clues to the inheritance of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)

IVF and IUI pregnancy rates remain stable across Europe, despite an increasing uptake of single embryo transfer

It takes a village: Chimpanzee babies do better when their moms have social connections

From lab to market: how renewable polymers could transform medicine

Striking increase in obesity observed among youth between 2011 and 2023

No evidence that medications trigger microscopic colitis in older adults

NYUAD researchers find link between brain growth and mental health disorders

Aging-related inflammation is not universal across human populations, new study finds

University of Oregon to create national children’s mental health center with $11 million federal grant

Rare achievement: UTA undergrad publishes research

Fact or fiction? The ADHD info dilemma

Genetic ancestry linked to risk of severe dengue

[Press-News.org] Scientists shed light on the brain mechanisms behind a debilitating sleep disorder
Researchers at the University of Toronto discover how the body's muscles accidentally fall asleep while awake