Rigor, Reproducibility and in vitro CSF assays: The Devil in the Details

Divergent results and misinterpretation of non-significant findings remain problematic in science – especially in retrospective, hypothesis generating, translational research. 1 When such divergence occurs, it is imperative that the cause of the divergence be established. In their recent paper in Annals of Neurology , Dauvilliers et al 2 challenged our earlier finding that cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from some patients with unexplained excessive daytime sleepiness enhances the activation of GABA A receptors (GABA A -R) 3 . They present data from 15 subjects in which they were unable to find evidence of enhanced activation of GABA A receptors. Here we: 1) establish how flaws in Dauvilliers’ experimental design account for this difference; 2) present new data demonstrating the robustness and reproducibility of our methods and 3) summarize the clinical promise of GABA A -R antagonism in treating IH and related disorders.