Morpho-Functional Characteristics of Hypothalamic Orexin Neurons During Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis

Background/Aim: There is growing interest in the possible role of orexin in pathophysiological processes of multiple sclerosis (MS) for these patients frequently complain of fatigue and sleep disturbances and orexin is a neuropeptide known to play the crucial role in sleep/wakefulness regulation as well as in many other physiological functions. The present study was aimed to investigate morpho-functional characteristics of hypothalamic orexin system during adoptive transfer experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (atEAE). Method: Immunohistochemical detection of orexin-containing neurons was carried out on frontal brain sections of intact and atEAE Lewis rats. Quantity and relative transmission density (RTD) of orexin-positive neurons were assessed in definite hypothalamic structures on different brain levels (Swanson’s atlas). Preproorexin gene expression in hypothalamic cells was