Histaminergic Neuron

A neurons cell type of the human nervous system.

Tuberomammillary histamine neuron that promotes wakefulness; blocking histamine signaling explains the sedation caused by many older antihistamines.

Function

Histaminergic tuberomammillary neurons promote wakefulness and arousal and contribute to feeding and metabolic regulation.

Morphology

Large multipolar

Specification

  • Neurotransmitter: Histamine
  • Receptors: H3 (inhibitory autoreceptor); GABA-A
  • Location: Tuberomammillary nucleus (posterior hypothalamus)
  • Projections: Widespread / diffuse throughout CNS (cortex, thalamus, brainstem)
  • Firing: Tonic firing during waking; silent during sleep
  • Markers: HDC; SLC18A2/VMAT2; HNMT (catabolism)
  • Developmental origin: Diencephalon
  • Disease: Sleep-wake regulation disorders; histamine signaling changes reported in narcolepsy (narcolepsy type 1 is primarily caused by orexin-neuron loss, not histaminergic-neuron loss).
  • Cell Ontology: CL:0011110

References

  1. Haas HL, Sergeeva OA, & Selbach O (2008). Histamine in the nervous system.. Physiol Rev 88(3):1183-241 PMID 18626069
  2. Church MK et al. (2010). Risk of first-generation H(1)-antihistamines: a GA(2)LEN position paper.. Allergy 65 PMID 20146728

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