Todd Stincic
Appalachian State University, NC·Neuroscience
How can fewer than 5,000 brain cells help control sleep, wakefulness, eating, stress, motivation and reward all at once? These cells are orexin neurons, a small cluster in the hypothalamus, the brain region that links the nervous system to the hormone system.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Physiology
- Topics
orexin
hypocretin
hypothalamus
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Mar 2028
What they work on
- Test whether estrogen enhances the activity of dorsomedial orexin neurons, the group linked to arousal, while reducing signaling of lateral neurons tied to food reward, in the mouse hypothalamus.
- Compare how estrogen changes gene expression and protein production in orexin neuron subpopulations, to find molecular features that distinguish arousal-related cells from reward-related cells.
- Measure how estrogen alters the electrophysiological properties of each orexin subpopulation, meaning their electrical firing behavior, and how it alters the signals they send to other neurons.
More about the research
Problems in the orexin system are tied to sleep disturbances, eating disorders and anxiety. These conditions are diagnosed more often in females after puberty, and orexin levels rise after menopause. That pattern points to estrogen as a possible regulator of these neurons. How estrogen acts on them, however, is largely unknown.
Why it matters
Sleep, anxiety and eating disorders disproportionately affect people with ovarian hormones, especially after puberty and menopause. Learning how estrogen tunes separate groups of orexin neurons could clarify why these sex differences arise. It could also help researchers design treatments that target arousal or anxiety without disturbing food and drug reward, or the reverse.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Luis De Lecea
Stanford University, CA·Neuroscience
Monitor the activity of wake-promoting hypocretin and locus coeruleus neurons in amyloid precursor protein knockin and APP/PS1 mouse models of Alzheimer's disease, and test in slice recordings whether amyloid-beta alters their intrinsic electrical properties.
Brian Samuels
University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL·Neuroscience
Test whether the brainstem raphe pallidus relays the eye-pressure rise caused by stimulating the dorsomedial hypothalamus/perifornical region, by measuring how much orexin receptor blockers injected into the raphe pallidus reduce the IOP response.
Stephen Hammes
University of Rochester, NY·Medicine & Clinical Research
Determine how estradiol, acting through the estrogen receptor ERα, increases neutrophil production in the mouse bone marrow.
The school
Appalachian State University: 2 labs on PI Pages, $11M a year on research, 20 research doctorates a year.
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