Insomnia is one of the more prevalent sleep disorders in the US, affecting about 10 percent of the population. Other sleep disorders include obstructive sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome and narcolepsy. Recently, a mutation in the G-protein coupled receptor hypocretin receptor-2 has been linked to the development of narcolepsy in dogs. In addition, the disruption of a gene in mice for the neuropeptide hypocretin led to the development of narcolepsy in those mice. These two results have focused attention on the hypocretin system as an important modulator of sleep in humans. The applicant organization, Neurocrine Biosciences, has developed a series of small molecule antagonists to the hypocretin receptor-2. The focus of this application is to first characterize these small molecule antagonists in vitro. The antagonists will be tested in competitive binding assays and cell-based functional assays. Second, the small molecule antagonists will be tested in vivo. Both rat and dog models will be set up and evaluated for the effect of the small molecule antagonists on sleep and wakefulness. The specificity of the effects of the small molecule antagonists will be further evaluated by comparing normal dogs with hypocretin receptor-2 mutated narcoleptic dogs. The results of this study will be valuable in determining the effectiveness of a hypocretin receptor antagonist in the control of sleep. These studies will also help to prepare the groundwork for the future development of hypocretin receptor-2 agonist as a possible treatment for narcolepsy.
A potential application for the research proposed is in the field of insomnia (an estimated 10% of the population suffers from chronic insomnia). Based on the available data, it is reasonable to hypothesize that hypocretin receptor antagonists will promote non-REM and REM sleep.
