Sodium oxybate increases prolactin secretion in narcolepsy patients and healthy controls

Hypocretin deficiency causes narcolepsy and may affect neuroendocrine systems, including TSH, ACTH and LH secretion. Symptoms can be treated effectively with sodium oxybate (SXB) in many patients. This study was performed to compare prolactin (PRL) secretion in patients and matched controls and establish the effect of SXB administration on PRL and sleep in both the groups.

Open label intervention. Blood was sampled before and after 5 days of SXB treatment. The study was performed at the Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands.

Subjects were admitted to the clinical research centre on both occasions.

Eight male hypocretin-deficient narcolepsy with cataplexy patients and eight controls matched for sex, age, body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio and fat percentage were enrolled.

SXB two times 3 g per night for five consecutive nights.

Patients and controls underwent 24 h blood sampling at 10 min intervals for measurement of PRL concentrations. The PRL concentration time series was analysed with a new deconvolution programme, approximate entropy (ApEn) and Cosinor analysis. Sleep was polygraphically recorded. Basal and pulsatile PRL secretion, as well as pulse regularity and frequency, ApEn and diurnal parameters were similar in patients and controls. SXB treatment caused similar nocturnal increase in PRL secretion, advance of the acrophase and decrease in ApEn in patients and controls. Slow wave sleep was increased to a similar extent in patients and controls.

This detailed study did not demonstrate altered PRL secretion in hypocretin-deficient narcolepsy patients during the basal state or during SXB administration. Therefore, hypocretin signalling is unlikely to be a regulator of the lactotrophic system.