No abstract

Authors demonstrate that patients with narcolepsy type 1 (N1) have more tendency of eat salty snacks after satiety than health volunteers. A few mechanisms to explain the weight gain have been discussed in narcolepsy. The hypocretin-1 deficiency can influence the olfactory system. The olfactory system should be modulated through hypocretin-1 via connections from the hypothalamic to other brain regions. Likewise, hypocretin-1 can be synthesized locally in our olfactory mucosa with possible private role modulating the olfactory. In experimental studies, different kinds of smell influence the preference for type of diet. Olfactory and taste sensations help control of appetite and regulate the quantity and quality of foods that will be chosen. N1 patients have lower levels of hypocretin-1 and consequent inferior olfactory threshold, less olfactory discrimination, and these findings improved after nasal hypocretin-1 administration. It is possible that the hyposmia influenced the quality and quantity of food by narcoleptic patients. We suggest that a complementary analysis of olfactory function should be done concomitant with food preferences to compare narcoleptic patients with and without hypocretin-1 deficiency.

Our results show that autonomic dysfunction is part of the narcoleptic phenotype, and that hypocretin-1 deficiency is the primary predictor of this dysfunction. This finding suggests that the hypocretin system participates in the modulation of cardiovascular function at rest.