| MadSci Network: Neuroscience |
Dear Laura, There is evidence that tumors of the pituitary, which grow to cause damage to a part of the brain called the hypothalamus which is just above the pituitary, do cause abnormalities in sleep and behavior. A nice review of this evidence was published in the Journal of Neuropsychiatry, vol. 4, pp. 45-50, 1992 "Hypothalamic lesions and intermittent explosive disorder" by J. M. Tonkonogy and J. L. Geller. In this paper, patients are described who become violent and suicidal and have sleep abnormalities due to tumors of the pituitary. Also, abnormalities in the function of a hypothalamic neurotransmitter called orexin (or hypocretin) has been found to cause narcolepsy, a syndrome of uncontrollable and inappropriate sleepiness (see the journal Nature Medicine, vol. 6, pp. 991-997, 2000 "A mutation in a case of early onset narcolepsy and a generalized absence of hypocretin peptides in human narcoleptic brains" by C. Peyron, et al.). So, disturbances in hypothalamic function such as those caused by pituitary tumors can indeed affect the regulation of sleep and emotional behavior. You can read these papers online by going to http://www.ncbi/nlm.nih.gov, the Pub Med site, and by typing in the names of these authors.
Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Neuroscience.