August 6, 1999
Instead of letting sleeping dogs lie, scientists have decided to find out why they sleep.
Their investigation may lead to better treatment of narcolepsy, which causes people to fall asleep suddenly and unexpectedly.
NBC's science correspondent, Robert Bazell, has details.
Dr. Emmanuel Mignot and his team at Stanford University made the discovery in dogs that suffer
from the disease called narcolepsy. Without warning the dogs' muscles suddenly weaken as they collapse into deep, dreamy sleep.
What brings on this sudden sleep?
It turns out to be a genetic mutation that disrupts specific molecules in the brain that control sleep.
Dr. Francis Collins: "What an incredible situation here! That there is actually a molecule and
a receptor for that molecule which if you interrupt causes this very dramatic result of people falling asleep instantly."
The dogs that crash quickly may look funny, but for people 135,00 like Ann Brown who suffer narcolepsy, the disease is no joke. Without medication they
often cannot hold a job or drive a car.
Today's discovery should quickly bring better help to people with narcolepsy. But the discovery should also have far wider applications.
Mignot: "I suspect many pharmaceutical companies and universities are going to use it
to find better medications for people who have difficulty sleeping."
Perhaps new medications -- but certainly a critical new understanding of the brain's role in sleep.
