Abstract
The lateral hypothalamus (LH) is classically implicated in sleep-wake control. It is the main source of orexin/hypocretin and melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) neuropeptides in the brain, which have been both implicated in arousal state switching. These neuropeptides are produced by non-overlapping LH neurons, which both project widely throughout the brain, where release of orexin and MCH activates specific postsynaptic G-protein-coupled receptors. Optogenetic manipulations of orexin and MCH neurons during sleep indicate that they promote awakening and REM sleep, respectively. However, recordings from orexin and MCH neurons in awake, moving animals suggest that they also act outside sleep/wake switching. Here, we review recent studies showing that both orexin and MCH neurons can rapidly (sub-second-timescale) change their firing when awake animals experience external stimuli, or during self-paced exploration of objects and places. However, the sensory-behavioral correlates of orexin and MCH neural activation can be quite different. Orexin neurons are generally more dynamic, with about 2/3rds of them activated before and during self-initiated running, and most activated by sensory stimulation across sensory modalities. MCH neurons are activated in a more select manner, for example upon self-paced investigation of novel objects and by certain other novel stimuli. We discuss optogenetic and chemogenetic manipulations of orexin and MCH neurons, which combined with pharmacological blockade of orexin and MCH receptors, imply that these rapid LH dynamics shape fundamental cognitive and motor processes due to orexin and MCH neuropeptide actions in the awake brain. Finally, we contemplate whether the awake control of psychomotor brain functions by orexin and MCH are distinct from their “arousal” effects.
A Brief Historical Overview and Introduction
Based on behavioral effects of anatomically targeted lesions, the lateral hypothalamus (LH) has been long recognized as a key brain center in the control of appetite and arousal [reviewed in Saper et al. (2005); , Stuber and Wise (2016); , ]. It is now known to contain neurochemically and biophysically heterogeneous neuronal populations, which express a plethora of neuropeptides and almost invariably co-express the classic fast neurotransmitters, GABA and glutamate (Schöne et al., 2011; Schöne and Burdakov, 2012; Stuber and Wise, 2016; Romanov et al., 2017; Kosse and Burdakov, 2018; Mickelsen et al., 2019). Some of these neuropeptides, such as orexin/hypocretin and melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) are generally thought to be unique to the LH (i.e., they are not made anywhere else in the brain) (; Sakurai et al., 1998; ). Although the canonical appetite and arousal roles of LH neurons have been receiving the most attention, there is also historic and modern evidence that can be interpreted to place the LH among essential brain structures in cognitive and motor control (Marshall et al., 1971; Schwartz and Teitelbaum, 1974; Levitt and Teitelbaum, 1975; ).
This article presents recent experimental evidence and interpretations linking these “non-canonical” LH functions to specific neuropeptidergic neural subsets of the LH, specifically orexin and MCH neurons. The overall aim of this review is to place a small number of recent studies from the authors’ laboratory in a broader context; for more exhaustive reviews of the LH the readers are referred elsewhere (e.g., Saper et al., 2005; ; Stuber and Wise, 2016; ). First, we will review basic physiological and anatomical properties of these neurons at the cellular and molecular levels. Second, we will highlight some recent studies linking temporally defined, brief activity epochs of these neurons in the awake brain to specific aspects of behavior and cognition. Finally, we will highlight the many remaining questions, and present some arguments that orexin and MCH neurons dynamically shape brain function beyond their canonical roles in “arousal.”
Orexin and MCH Cells Control Their Neural Targets via Glutamate/Gaba and Peptide Co-transmission
Orexin neurons are known to be essential for stable wakefulness, and their loss produces the sleep disorder narcolepsy across mammalian species (; Lin et al., 1999; Nishino et al., 2000; Thannickal et al., 2000; ). MCH neurons have been reported to promote REM sleep (Verret et al., 2003; ), though some studies also conclude that they can promote NREM sleep (). These sleep/arousal effects of orexin and MCH neurons will not be discussed here, since they have been the subject of many recent publications (; ; ; ).
Orexin and MCH immunoreactivities do not overlap, implying that these peptides are made by distinct classes of LH neurons (; Peyron et al., 1998; Mickelsen et al., 2017). The two cell types are also thought to have opposing roles on arousal, and correspondingly often show reciprocal activity profiles in vivo and in brain slices, and are differentially modulated by some indicators of body energy status, such as glucose (; ; ; Kosse et al., 2015; ). However, in many other ways, the two cell types are similar. They both project their axons widely throughout the brain, with innervations not only of regions regulating arousal and reward, but also many other aspects of cognition and motor control (Peyron et al., 1998; ; ; ). Both cell types also receive brain-wide monosynaptic innervations (). The specific G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) for orexin and MCH are expressed equally widely in the brain, with only some differences, and the distribution of the receptors generally (but not always) mirrors that of projections (Saito et al., 2001; Sakurai, 2007). Orexin binding to orexin GPCRs is rapidly coupled to depolarization and excitation of neuronal plasma membranes, due to activation of non-selective cation channels and/or Na+/Ca2+ exchangers (; ; ; Kukkonen and Leonard, 2014). MCH binding to MCH GPCR has less clear electrical effects, but has been linked to control of glutamate receptor expression and function, or to control of presynaptic transmitter release (; Wu et al., 2009; Pachoud et al., 2010).
In addition to orexin and MCH peptides, both neural types express the classic “fast” neurotransmitters. For orexin neurons, many histological and functional studies agree that their fast co-transmitter is mostly glutamate (Schöne and Burdakov, 2012). Indeed, when orexin neurons are optogenetically stimulated, the postsynaptic electrical excitation involves both glutamatergic and orexinergic components, which can be pharmacologically dissociated at both intrahypothalamic (Schöne et al., 2012, 2014) and extrahypothalamic (Sears et al., 2013; ) projection targets. Orexin receptor -mediated postsynaptic excitation gradually “ramps up” during steady-rate orexin neuron stimulation, and this ramping has been proposed to be an outcome of temporal integration of presynaptic input, which – in the context of feedback loops of which orexin neurons are part – reveals a potential computational mechanism (formally known as integral feedback control) for wakefulness stability implemented by the orexin system (; Schöne et al., 2014; Schone and Burdakov, 2017).
For MCH neurons, the nature of their fast co-transmitter is more controversial. Molecular screens identify markers for both GABA and glutamate in MCH cells (; ). Optogenetic stimulation of MCH cells produces GABAergic outputs inside the hypothalamus, but glutamatergic outputs in other brain areas (; ). The possibility remains that there may be distinct subsets of GABAergic and glutamatergic MCH cells is being explored, but there is not yet a clear logic for how this is arranged in the brain. Overall, despite clear evidence for intra- and extrahypothalamic functional neural circuits made by orexin and MCH neurons (; Kosse et al., 2017; Kosse and Burdakov, 2019; ; ), at the multiple projection targets of orexin and MCH neurons in the brain, the relative roles of their peptide and small-molecule neurotransmitters remain incompletely understood overall.
Orexin Neuron Dynamics Underlying Sensorimotor Control and Spatial Exploration
Brain slice patch clamp recordings from orexin neurons show that they can intrinsically generate tonic firing in a regular, pacemaker-like manner (van den Pol et al., 1998; Li et al., 2002; ; Yamanaka et al., 2003b; , ; Williams et al., 2007, 2011; ; Williams and Burdakov, 2009; Schöne et al., 2011). In vitro, this intrinsic activity can be slowly modulated by specific nutrients, gasses, and neuromodulators (Li et al., 2002; Yamanaka et al., 2003a; Williams et al., 2007; , , ; , ; ). However, the activity dynamics of orexin neurons in vivo change much more rapidly than in brain slices, likely reflecting the brain-wide neural inputs that they receive (). Orexin cell activity of awake rodents responds to sensory stimuli on a subsecond timescale, and this activation correlates with muscle/EMG activation and movement (Lee et al., 2005; Mileykovskiy et al., 2005; Takahashi et al., 2008; , ; ; ). In this section, we review some emerging roles of this awake orexin cell activity, focusing on a small selection of recent studies.
Recent orexin neural network imaging at cellular resolution indicates that the rapid dynamics of orexin cells during wakefulness appears to be a property of most orexin cells. 2-photon calcium imaging of >300 orexin neurons during locomotion reveals that the majority (around 70%) of orexin neurons activate around initiation of running bouts (; Figure 1). Optogenetic evidence indicates that this peri-initiation activity of orexin cells appears to be causally linked to locomotion initiation. Optogenetic excitation of orexin cells at frequencies resembling their natural in vivo firing (Lee et al., 2005; Mileykovskiy et al., 2005), produces frequency-dependent running (). In turn, optogenetic inhibition of orexin neurons makes both sensory-evoked and self-paced running less likely ().
FIGURE 1
These experiments supply causal evidence for a role of orexin neurons in rapid sensorimotor control in the awake brain (
Another recent study examined the role of the awake activity of orexin neurons by optogenetic silencing of this activity during self-paced spatial exploration in awake mice (
FIGURE 2

Role of natural orexin cell activity in spatial avoidance. Optogenetic silencing (“LASER ON”) of orexin-ArchT neuron in one half of exploration arena causes mice to spend more time in that half. Source:
Optogenetics-assisted circuit mapping and combinatorial chemogenetic and pharmacological experiments in vivo suggest that downstream, such actions of orexin neurons may involve orexin projections to action-selection control regions such as the nucleus accumbens (
Mch Neuron Dynamics Underlying Awake Experiences and Subsequent Memories
Based on pioneering electrophysiological recordings from a small number of MCH neurons in head-fixed rats (
The first study carried out video-controlled closed-loop optogenetic silencing of MCH cell activity waves associated with self-paced exploration of novel objects (Kosse and Burdakov, 2019). Importantly, large MCH activity waves were associated with exploration of novel but not familiar objects, consistent with novelty representations (Kosse and Burdakov, 2019; Figures 3A,B). The MCH cell optogenetic silencing, selectively during the moments of object memory encoding, disrupted later recognition of the encountered objects, suggesting that MCH cell activity during novel object exploration is required for formation and later expression of object recognition memory (Kosse and Burdakov, 2019; Figures 3C,D). Channelrhodopsin-assisted circuit mapping in brain slices, and chemogenetic and pharmacological experiments in vivo, revealed that MCH neurons are under inhibitory GABAergic control by local LH GAD65 neurons (Kosse and Burdakov, 2019). Optogenetic silencing of the LH GAD65 neurons during novel object investigations augmented subsequent object recognition, and this augmentation was blocked by MCH receptor antagonist (Kosse and Burdakov, 2019).
FIGURE 3

Role of exploration-associated MCH cell activity in object recognition memory. (A) Schematic of MCH-GCaMP recording aligned to self-paced object exploration. (B) MCH cell activity associated with exploration of novel (but not familiar) objects. (C) Schematic of MCH-ArchT cell silencing selectivity during self-paced object exploration. (D) No object recognition after MCH cells were silenced upon the earlier object exploration. Source: Kosse and Burdakov (2019).
These findings suggest that mice fail to recognize objects unless their MCH cell activity “marks” prior encounters with the objects, and that a GAD65→MCH LH circuit shapes the size of the memory-formation-gating MCH cell activity. The object recognition memory investigated in this study is important for normal life of mammals (Winters et al., 2008;
The second study probing the function of MCH neural signals during wakefulness was motivated by evidence, from fiber photometry LH recordings, that MCH neurons are activated by fear-inducing aversive events, namely electrical foot-shocks (
FIGURE 4

Role of MCH neuron activity during fear conditioning in cued fear extinction. (A) MCH-GCaMP population dynamics during auditory fear conditioning (blue, tone; red, footshock). (B) Effect of MCH-GCaMP cell silencing during conditioning (green squares) on subsequent cued fear extinction, Top row, schematic of experiment; Bottom row, corresponding fear behavior. Source:
While many details of the two studies differ (Kosse and Burdakov, 2019;
How the transient awake signals on MCH neurons achieve these effects on memory is not yet clear. A number of cellular mechanisms have been suggested for how a transient wave of neural activity can induce a lasting transformation in the potential for future memory-related synaptic alteration, e.g., the synaptic tagging hypothesis (Redondo and Morris, 2011). At the anatomical and molecular levels, MCH cell axons and MCH receptors have been reported brain-wide, in multiple regions postulated linked to memory processing such as the hippocampus and cortex (
Emerging Concepts, Unanswered Questions, and “Arousal” Arguments
The studies reviewed above, including some with direct confirmation of global brain state by EEG/EMG recordings (Mileykovskiy et al., 2005) make it clear that both orexin and MCH neurons are active outside sleep. Causal evidence is beginning to emerge that this awake activity of the LH governs fast and slow aspects of decision-making, sensorimotor control, and memory dynamics (
First, are the awake actions of orexin and MCH neurons mediated by the neuropeptides they release or by GABA/glutamate that they also co-release? This has been addressed, in some cases, by orexin/MCH receptor antagonists, where the data imply that some memory-modulating effect of MCH neurons and exploration-guiding effects of orexin neurons, indeed rely on these neuropeptides (
Second, are “sleep-active” and “wake-active” orexin/MCH neurons the same or different neural subpopulations? This question has been technically difficult to answer, because this requires recordings of neural ensembles across brain states. However, in the LH, this is now achievable using GRIN lenses combined with head-mounted miniscopes or 2-photon microscopy (
The third question, which is invariably raised at conferences and in article peer-reviews related to this topic, and relates to the title of this review, is of a more conceptual nature. It can be summarized as follows: are actions of orexin and MCH during sleep and wake fundamentally the same, and related to impact of these cells on “arousal”? For example, when orexin cells are optogenetically stimulated, do mice run more not because orexin cells are directly involved in motor control, but because mice are more awake/aroused? When MCH cells are active during object investigation, do mice then remember the object better not because MCH cells directly control fundamental molecular underpinnings of memory gating, but because MCH cells make mice more aroused and so better able to “take in” the object?
This question can be contemplated at two levels, by considering specific experimental observations, or by considering our definitions of “arousal.” To the best of our knowledge, there is little evidence that MCH neurons promote arousal, only that they promote sleep (Verret et al., 2003;
The classification of neural effects as “arousal effects” requires a specific temporal or anatomical definition of arousal, which seems to be largely missing from the current literature. The speed of orexin cell excitation by external stimuli can be as short as 34 ms, and orexin cell electrical excitation can cause movements as rapidly as 300 ms (
Statements
Author contributions
Both authors listed have made a substantial, direct and intellectual contribution to the work, and approved it for publication.
Funding
This work was funded by ETH Zürich.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The reviewer TS declared a past co-authorship with one of the authors DB to the handling Editor.
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Summary
Keywords
hypothalamus, neuropeptide, orexin, melanin-concentrating hormone, memory, locomotion
Citation
Concetti C and Burdakov D (2021) Orexin/Hypocretin and MCH Neurons: Cognitive and Motor Roles Beyond Arousal. Front. Neurosci. 15:639313. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2021.639313
Received
08 December 2020
Accepted
01 March 2021
Published
22 March 2021
Volume
15 - 2021
Edited by
Natsuko Tsujino, University of Tsukuba, Japan
Reviewed by
Ramalingam Vetrivelan, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, United States; Kazue Semba, Dalhousie University, Canada; Thomas Scammell, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, United States; Srikanta Chowdhury, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh
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© 2021 Concetti and Burdakov.
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*Correspondence: Denis Burdakov, denis.burdakov@hest.ethz.ch
This article was submitted to Sleep and Circadian Rhythms, a section of the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience
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