Twenty-Three Years of Hypocretins: The "Rosetta Stone" of Sleep/Arousal Circuits.

The discovery of the hypocretins/orexins (HCRTs) has revolutionized sleep science in the last two decades. A combination of anatomical tracing methods, optogenetics, and pharmacology is delineating a blueprint of functional inputs and outputs of the HCRT system. Here, we discuss several models of HCRT action that involve the integration between physiological variables, circadian output, and sleep homeostasis. Generation of activity maps during the sleep-wake cycle at the cellular level will allow investigators to decipher computational frameworks modeling operations of HCRT networks.

Mapping the Hypocretin/Orexin Neuronal System: An Unexpectedly Productive Journey.

Early in 1998, we (de Lecea et al., 1998) and others (Sakurai et al., 1998) described the same hypothalamic neuropeptides, respectively called the hypocretins or orexins, which were discovered using two different approaches. In December of that year, we published the subject of this commentary in the Journal of Neuroscience: a highly detailed anatomical description of the extensive axonal projections of the hypocretin/orexin neurons. Although the function of this system was unknown at the time, a large body of literature today attests that the hypocretin/orexin neuropeptides play important roles in multiple physiological functions, particularly in sleep/wake regulation. Neuroanatomical studies are rarely frontline news, but the citation rate of this paper underscores the critical nature of such basic research. Based in part on this detailed description, the hypocretin/orexin neuropeptides have since been studied in many different areas of neuroscience research, including sleep/wake regulation, feeding, addiction, reward and motivation, anxiety and depression, cardiovascular regulation, pain, migraine, and neuroendocrine regulation, including reproduction. Thus, this paper has had a surprisingly broad impact on neuroscience research, particularly since it was originally rejected by the Journal!