Neuropeptide S

Just a little bit more science blogging. Personally, I think that Olivier's newest paper (Xu et al., 2004, Neuron 43:487-497) on the discovery of a putative role for Neuropeptide S in arousal is a highly significant and exciting development. This quote from the discussion should whet the appetite:

One unexpected outcome of this study is the discovery of a cluster of NPS-expressing neurons that do not produce NA or CRF and are localized in close proximity to the LC proper and Barrington's nucleus. The cluster of NPS-expressing neurons is likely to be a previously uncharacterized population of cells in the peri-LC area. Noteworthy, it has been reported before that a large number of uncharacterized neurons are found in the peri-LC area (Aston-Jones et al., 1991b; Rizvi et al., 1994), and our present data suggest that the NPS neuronal cluster could be a subset of these neurons.

me likey!