The intriguing relationship between orexin, leptin and tobacco craving

Although the majority of studies associated the function of orexin neurons with arousal and sleep and leptin with balancing energy expenditure and food craving these neuropeptides were also shown to directly affect dopaminergic transmission in mesolimbic reward pathways. This indicates a possible role for orexin and leptin in reward function and motivation and thus in addictive diseases. Aim of our study was to test whether both peptides are involved in nicotine craving in a standardized setting. We studied orexin and leptin plasma concentrations (RIA) in tobacco smokers (n=60) compared to healthy controls (n=64…