Department of Neurosciences "Rita Levi Montalcini", University of Torino, Turin, Italy.
Department of Neurology and Neurorehabilitation, Istituto Auxologico Italiano, IRCCS, San Giuseppe Hospital, Piancavallo, Italy.
Neurol Sci. 2022 Jan;43(1):313-317. doi: 10.1007/s10072-021-05250-x. Epub 2021 Apr 27.
Orexins are hypothalamic neuropeptides that regulate several physiological functions, such as appetite, arousal, cognition, stress, sleep and metabolism. Emerging pieces of evidence suggest an orexinergic dysfunction in several neuropsychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety and addiction. A syndromic overlap between behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and several psychiatric disorders was recently demonstrated. Therefore, we analysed cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) orexin A concentrations of 40 bvFTD and 32 non-demented patients, correlating neuropeptide concentrations with several clinical characteristics. A significant increase of orexin A concentrations was found in bvFTD patients when compared to controls (p<0.001). CSF orexin A concentration showed a correlation with Mini-Mental State Examination scores, drug assumption, history of compulsive behaviour and extrapyramidal signs. Moreover, we found a relationship between CSF markers of neurodegeneration, total tau and Aβ and CSF orexin A concentrations. Our study provides evidence of an orexinergic dysfunction in bvFTD, correlating with several clinical symptoms. Further larger studies are needed to confirm our data.
食欲素是下丘脑神经肽，调节多种生理功能，如食欲、觉醒、认知、应激、睡眠和代谢。越来越多的证据表明，食欲素能在多种神经精神疾病中发生功能障碍，包括抑郁症、焦虑症和成瘾。行为变异额颞叶痴呆（bvFTD）和几种精神疾病之间最近表现出一种综合征重叠。因此，我们分析了 40 例 bvFTD 和 32 例非痴呆患者的脑脊液（CSF）食欲素 A 浓度，将神经肽浓度与多种临床特征相关联。与对照组相比，bvFTD 患者的食欲素 A 浓度显著升高（p<0.001）。CSF 食欲素 A 浓度与简易精神状态检查评分、药物使用、强迫行为史和锥体外系体征相关。此外，我们发现神经退行性疾病的 CSF 标志物、总 tau 和 Aβ与 CSF 食欲素 A 浓度之间存在关系。我们的研究为 bvFTD 中的食欲素能功能障碍提供了证据，并与多种临床症状相关。需要进一步的更大规模的研究来证实我们的数据。
