Recurrent apnea with intermittent hypoxia is a major clinical problem in preterm infants. Recent studies, although limited, showed that adults who were born preterm exhibit increased incidence of sleep-disordered breathing and hypertension, suggesting that apnea of prematurity predisposes to autonomic dysfunction in adulthood. Here, we demonstrate that adult rats that were exposed to intermitte...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Inspired from preconditioning studies, ischemic postconditioning, consisting of the application of intermittent interruptions of blood flow shortly after reperfusion, has been described in cardiac ischemia and recently in stroke. It is well known that ischemic tolerance can be achieved in the brain not only by ischemic preconditioning, but also by hypoxic preconditioning....

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) occurs in 2% of middle-aged women and 4% of middle-aged men with a higher prevalence among obese subjects. This condition is considered as an independent risk factor for cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases. One of the major pathophysiological characteristics of OSA is intermittent hypoxia. Hypoxia can lead to oxidative stress and overproduction of reactive ...

We examined the effects of chronic intermittent hypoxia (IH) on the hemodynamics of systemic circulation in rat. Chronic IH has no effect on the hemodynamics in the normoxia condition, but it could effectively prevent the fall of hemodynamics during acute hypoxia.

The full impact of multisystem disease such as obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) on regions of the central nervous system is debated, as the subsequent neurocognitive sequelae are unclear. Several preclinical studies suggest that its purported major culprits, intermittent hypoxia and sleep fragmentation, can differentially affect adult hippocampal neurogenesis. Although the prospective biphasic na...

IntroductionLeptin is an hormone that regulates body weight. Studies have shown increasing leptin levels according to body mass index (BMI) and intermittent hypoxia.

Erectile dysfunction (ED) is common among men with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) with reports of prevalence varying from 30 – 50 percent. The mechanism is unknown. Since chronic hypoxia is known to cause peripheral neuropathies, it is logical to question whether ED in OSA might reflect peripheral neuropathy resulting from the intermittent nocturnal hypoxia concomitant with OSA. Two recent studi...

We sought to determine whether chronic exposure to intermittent hypoxia (CIH) increases sympathetic responsiveness to subsequent chemoreflex stimulation. Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to 30 days of CIH: exposure chamber %O2 [fractional concentration of chamber O2 (FcO2)] nadir 6.5-7% with return to 21% each minute for 8 h/day during the diurnal sleep period (Exp group). Sham controls (SC gro...

BACKGROUND Hypobaric intermittent hypoxia (HIH) produces many favorable effects in the cardiovascular system such as anti-hypertensive effect. In this study, we showed that HIH significantly attenuated a depressor response induced by acute hypoxia. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Sprague-Dawley rats received HIH in a hypobaric chamber simulating an altitude of 5000 m. The artery blood pressure...