Disrupted Sleep in Narcolepsy: Exploring the Integrity of Galanin Neurons in the Ventrolateral Preoptic Area
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Published on: June 19, 2019
Yury V Gavrilov1,2,3, Brian A Ellison1, Mihoko Yamamoto1
1Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA.
Study Objectives:
To examine the integrity of sleep-promoting neurons of the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus (VLPO) in postmortem brains of narcolepsy type 1 patients.
Methods:
Postmortem examination of five narcolepsy and eight control brains.
Results:
VLPO galanin neuron count did not differ between narcolepsy patients (11,151 ± 3,656) and controls (13,526 ± 9,544).
Conclusions:
A normal number of galanin-immunoreactive VLPO neurons in narcolepsy type 1 brains at autopsy suggests that VLPO cell loss is an unlikely explanation for the sleep fragmentation that often accompanies the disease.
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