Scribd
Upload
127 views2 pages

Explanations For Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness and cataplexy. It may be caused by low levels of the neurotransmitter hypocretin, which regulates sleep and wakefulness, as narcoleptics have significantly fewer hypocretin-producing cells in the hypothalamus. Symptoms are also similar to REM sleep, which narcoleptics enter directly instead of progressing through sleep stages normally. Genetic factors like mutations in the immune system's HLA gene may also play a role in narcolepsy.

Uploaded by

Samantha Opara
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
127 views2 pages

Explanations For Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness and cataplexy. It may be caused by low levels of the neurotransmitter hypocretin, which regulates sleep and wakefulness, as narcoleptics have significantly fewer hypocretin-producing cells in the hypothalamus. Symptoms are also similar to REM sleep, which narcoleptics enter directly instead of progressing through sleep stages normally. Genetic factors like mutations in the immune system's HLA gene may also play a role in narcolepsy.

Uploaded by

Samantha Opara
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

EXPLANATIONS FOR NARCOLEPSY

A01
What is Narcolepsy?
A sleep disorder which causes sleepiness during the day
and cataplexy
Could be caused from emotional arousal such as anger,
excitement or fear

The neurotransmitter hypocretin


Hypocretin regulates sleep and wakefulness through
interactions with the system that regulates emotion and
homeostasis in the hypothalamus.
Low levels of hypocretin, in narcoleptics the amount of
hypocretin producing cells in the hypothalamus are
signifi cantly lower than in normal people.

The malfunction of REM sleep


The symptoms of narcolepsy are similar to that during
REM sleep i.e. during REM sleep the body becomes
paralyzed to stop movements and loss of muscle control
could be linked this. This is similar to the symptom
cataplexy in narcoleptics.
Also the malfunction in narcoleptics is that they go
straight into REM sleep compared to normal people who
have SWS followed by REM sleep.

Mutation in the immune system


Narcoleptics have an increase in human leukocyte antigen
(HLA) found on white blood cells and are involved in the
immune response

A02
Dement et al found evidence for the role of low hypocretin
levels in narcolepsy. They found that in mice that could not
make the neurotransmitter experienced the symptoms of
narcolepsy such as cataplexy and sleep attacks highlighting
its link to the disorder. Mignot et al found that dogs with a
genetic mutation which led to low a defi ciency in the
receptor for hypocretin led to the symptoms of cataplexy. A
limitation of this research is that it is correlational therefore
we cannot establish a cause and eff ect for certain, as there
may be other confounding variables we are unaware of and
hypocretin may be indirectly involved. Also both studies
uses animals we cannot be certain that the fi ndings have
external validity and that we can extrapolate to humans due
to diff erences in anatomy. Also, using animals in research
may raise ethical issues as breeding animals with these
conditions may cause them harm and suff ering purely for
research purposes.
Mignot et al found evidence for a genetic basis for
narcolepsy in his twin studies, they found that there is 25%
concordance rate for narcolepsy between MZ twins
compared to 1% for fi rst degree relatives, which is relatively
higher compared to the general population. This supported
that narcolepsy may have a biological cause supporting the
nature side of the nature-nurture debate, however it is
diffi cult to determine to what extent that narcolepsy is
genetic due to MZ twins usually being raised in similar
environments, therefore this could be deterministic, as there
may be psychological explanations such as conditioning in
some form of exposure to people suff ering from narcolepsy.
The explanation that hypocretin is responsible for narcolepsy
is a reductionist as we do not fully understand the complex
nature of how it aff ects narcoleptics and we are simplifying
our understanding. Also, it is deterministic in assuming we
have no free will in controlling our narcolepsy as if emotional
arousal causes it we have some level of control in our
emotions through CBT.

You might also like