First Author | Bastianini S | Year | 2014 |
Journal | J Sleep Res | Volume | 23 |
Issue | 2 | Pages | 186-8 |
PubMed ID | 24772478 | Mgi Jnum | J:312042 |
Mgi Id | MGI:6782798 | Doi | 10.1111/jsr.12107 |
Citation | Bastianini S, et al. (2014) A critical role of hypocretin deficiency in pregnancy. J Sleep Res 23(2):186-8 |
abstractText | Hypocretin/orexin peptides are known for their role in the control of the wake-sleep cycle and narcolepsy-cataplexy pathophysiology. Recent studies suggested that hypocretin peptides also have a role in pregnancy. We tested this hypothesis by conducting a retrospective analysis on pregnancy complications in two different mouse models of hypocretin deficiency. We recorded 85 pregnancies of mice lacking either hypocretin peptides (knockout) or hypocretin-releasing neurons (transgenic) and their wild-type controls. Pregnancy was associated with unexplained dam death before delivery in 3/15 pregnancies in knockout mice, and in 3/23 pregnancies in transgenic mice. No casualties occurred in wild-type pregnant dams (P < 0.007 versus hypocretin-deficient mice as a whole). Hypocretin deficiency did not impact either on litter size or the number of weaned pups per litter. These data provide preliminary evidence of a critical role of hypocretin deficiency in pregnancy. |