Neuropeptide S

Where it comes from

Made in

A small cluster of neurons beside the locus coeruleus in the brainstem; its receptor is dense in the amygdala

Sent out by

Arousal and stress

Acts on

• Amygdala and hypothalamus
• Cortex (arousal)
• Airway cells

What it does

• Raises wakefulness and movement while lowering anxiety, an unusual pairing ¹
• Reduces food intake and aids the extinction of fear memories in rodents ¹
• A single receptor change, carried by two members of one family who report four to five and a half hours a night; mice carrying it sleep less and escape the memory cost of sleep loss ²

In medicine

• No medicine copies it or blocks it. An NPSR1 variant is linked with asthma, panic disorder and inflammatory bowel disease in genetic studies ³
• The sleep finding is the closest it comes to the clinic: the two family members with the receptor change sleep four to five and a half hours a night without the usual costs ²

Beyond the body’s own use

• NPSR1 agonists are studied for anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder in animals, and none has been given to a person ¹
• Nothing containing neuropeptide S is approved or obtainable outside the laboratory
• What is being asked of it is whether arousal and anxiety can be separated in people as they are in rodents: the peptide raises wakefulness and lowers anxiety at the same time, which no approved drug does ¹