Innovative orexinergic agonists for narcolepsy therapy
Orexin A and Orexin B are
neuropeptides that regulate arousal, wakefulness, and appetite. The most common form of narcolepsy, in which the sufferer experiences brief losses of muscle tone (cataplexy)is caused by a lack of orexin in the brain due to destruction of the cells that produce it.
This project is aimed at designing and synthesizing orexin analogues capable to enter the CNS and prevent narcolepsy by activating the receptors OX1R and/or OX2R.