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Histamine

Histamine Plays an Important Role in Promoting and Stabilizing Wakefulness1-3

  • Histamine promotes wakefulness by activating cortical, subcortical, and wake-promoting neurons and helps stabilize wakefulness by inhibiting sleep-promoting neurons (non-REM and REM)1-4
Histamine and orexin (hypocretin) originate in the hypothalamus and play complementary roles in promoting and stabilizing wakefulnessHistamine and orexin (hypocretin) originate in the hypothalamus and play complementary roles in promoting and stabilizing wakefulness

Several other neuronal systems are involved in wakefulness and non-REM and REM sleep, including acetylcholine, dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin5

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Learn more about the role of histamine

Video thumbnail showing hypocretin (orexin) neurons activate histamine neurons. Both neurons activate cortical neurons, activate other wake-promoting neurons, and inhibit non-REM and REM sleep-promoting neurons
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References

  1. Scammell TE, Jackson AC, Franks NP, Wisden W, Dauvilliers Y. Histamine: neural circuits and new medications. Sleep. 2019;42(1). doi:10.1093/sleep/zsy183
  2. Scammell TE, Arrigoni E, Lipton JO. Neural circuitry of wakefulness and sleep. Neuron. 2017;93(4):747-765.
  3. Haas HL, Sergeeva OA, Selbach O. Histamine in the nervous system. Physiol Rev. 2008;88(3):1183-1241.
  4. Saper CB, Fuller PM, Pederson NP, Lu J, Scammell TE. Sleep state switching. Neuron. 2010;68(6):1023-1042.
  5. Thorpy MJ, Bogan RK. Update on the pharmacologic management of narcolepsy: mechanisms of action and clinical implications. Sleep Med. 2020;68:97-109.