Latest Orexin Stories

redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online New research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition this week has identified a cellular change in the brain that has been linked to obesity. In the study, a team of American and Italian neuroscientists joined forces to identify a switch that occurs in neurons located within the hypothalamus. This switch, they explain in a statement, “involves receptors that trigger or inhibit the release...

WELWYN GARDEN CITY, England and BOSTON, September 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Update on novel structures and product pipeline to be presented at Biochemical Society and Royal Society of Chemistry meetings Heptares Therapeutics today announces that it has used its StaR(R) technology to solve entirely in-house the first structure of a Family B sub-class G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR). Chief Scientific Officer, Fiona Marshall and Chief Executive...

WELWYN GARDEN CITY, England and BOSTON, April 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Review published in Trends in Pharmacological Sciences Heptares Therapeutics, the leading GPCR drug discovery company, announces the recent publication of a major review of the state of the art for GPCR drug discovery and new insights that, for the first time, can be obtained from structural biology. The review has been published online in Trends in Pharmacological Sciences, a Cell...

There is no doubt that eating a balanced diet is essential for maintaining a healthy body weight as well as appropriate arousal and energy balance, but the details about how the nutrients we consume are detected and processed in the brain remain elusive. Now, a research study discovers intriguing new information about how dietary nutrients influence brain cells that are key regulators of energy balance in the body. The study, published by Cell Press in the November 17 issue of the journal...

Protein, not sugar, stimulates cells keeping us thin and awake, new study suggests A new study has found that protein and not sugar activates the cells responsible for keeping us awake and burning calories. The research, published in the 17 November issue of the scientific journal Neuron, has implications for understanding obesity and sleep disorders. Wakefulness and energy expenditure rely on "orexin cells", which secrete a stimulant called orexin/hypocretin in the brain. Reduced...

Bright light arouses us. Bright light makes it easier to stay awake. Very bright light not only arouses us but is known to have antidepressant effects. Conversely, dark rooms can make us sleepy. It's the reason some people use masks to make sure light doesn't wake them while they sleep. Now researchers at UCLA have identified the group of neurons that mediates whether light arouses us — or not. Jerome Siegel, a professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human...

The Bio-Magazine has just published reviews on the neuropeptide hormone Orexin and on Biophilia which is the hypothesis of an instinctive bond between human beings and the natural world including animals, plants, landscapes, and wilderness. (PRWEB) October 11, 2011 The Bio-Magazine Eurekamag.com provides insights into distinct scientific topics. This number is steadily rising and includes many reviews on biological substances and theories. The latest inclusions in this collection of...

(Ivanhoe Newswire) – The fat we usually think of is called white fat, but there’s another type- brown fat- that burns fat. It was previously thought that brown fat disappeared after infancy, but recent advances in imaging technology led to its rediscovery in adults. Brown fat is full of blood vessels and mitochondria, making it very good at converting calories into energy, a process that malfunctions in obesity. Researchers found that orexin, a hormone produced in the brain, activates the...

People with narcolepsy are not only excessively sleepy, but they are also prone to gaining weight. In fact, narcoleptic patients will often pack on pounds even as they eat considerably less than your average person. Now researchers reporting in the October issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, appear to have an answer as to why. It seems a deficiency of the neuropeptide hormone orexin, an ingredient that encourages hunger and wakefulness, may leave them with a lack of...

Sanford-Burnham scientists reveal that a hormone called orexin prevents obesity in mice by activating brown fat, a tissue that's good at burning calories The fat we typically think of as body fat is called white fat. But there's another type—known as brown fat—that does more than just store fat. It burns fat. Scientists used to think that brown fat disappeared after infancy, but recent advances in imaging technology led to its rediscovery in adult humans. Because brown fat is so full...