Orexin articles from across Nature Portfolio

Sleep and wakefulness is stabilized by a population of orexin-expressing neurons. In this study, the authors demonstrate how these neurons drive arousal by silencing sleep-promoting neurons in the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus.

Agonists of the orexin receptor 2 (OX₂R) show promise in the treatment of narcolepsy. Cryo-EM structures of active-state OX₂R bound to an endogenous peptide agonist and a small-molecule agonist suggest a molecular mechanism that rationalizes both receptor activation and inhibition.

Orexin signaling is provided by diffusely distributed fibers and involved in different brain circuits that orchestrate sleep and wakefulness states. Here, the authors show that a proportion of orexin neurons project to the sublaterodorsal tegmental nucleus and exhibit rapid eye movement (REM) sleep-related actions.