Explanation of Narcolepsy
- Created by: Keyleigh-Storm
- Created on: 02-06-16 18:05
Explanations of Narcolepsy
Knowledge
Psychological explanations
> LEHRMAN AND WEISS suggested that sudden attacks of sleepiness disguise sexual fantasies.
REM
> One of the classic symptoms of narcolepsy is loss of muscle tone (called 'cataplexy') - this is similar to what happens during REM sleep.
> During the daytime narcoleptics often experience intrusions of REM-type sleep (hallucinations) & at night narcoleptics have abnormal REM sleep.
> In the 1960's an explanation offered for narcolepsy was that it was caused by a malfunction in the system that regulates REM sleep.
HLA
> In the 1980's research pointed in a new direction, suggesting that narcolepsy linked to a mutation of the immune system.
> HONDA ET AL. found increased frequency of one type of HLA (human leukocyte antigen) in narcoleptic patients.
> HLA molecules are found on the surface of white blood cells and coordinate the immune response.
> Recent research has found that more than 90% of people suffering from narcolepsy with cataplexy have been found to have the HLA variant HLA-DQB1*0602.
Hypocretin
> Most recently research has uncovered a link between a neurotransmitter (hypocretin) and narcolepsy.
> Hypocretins regulate sleep and wakefulness through interactions with systems that regulate emotion and homeostasis in the hypothalamus.
> Normally there're about 10,000-20,000 hypocretin-producing cells in the hypothalamus but in many narcoleptics a large number of these cells are missing, resulting in low levels of hypocretin.
Evaluation
REM
> VOGEL observed REM sleep at the onset of sleep in a narcoleptic patient, whereas…
Comments
No comments have yet been made