Invited Review: Physiological consequences of intermittent hypoxia: systemic blood pressure

2001 ◽  
Vol 90 (4) ◽  
pp. 1600-1605 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugene C. Fletcher

One of the major manifestations of obstructive sleep apnea is profound and repeated hypoxia during sleep. Acute hypoxia leads to stimulation of the peripheral chemoreceptors, which in turn increases sympathetic outflow, acutely increasing blood pressure. The chronic effect of these repeated episodic or intermittent periods of hypoxia in humans is difficult to study because chronic cardiovascular changes may take many years to manifest. Rodents have been a tremendous source of information in short- and long-term studies of hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases. Recurrent short cycles of normoxia-hypoxia, when administered to rats for 35 days, allows examination of the chronic cardiovascular response to intermittent hypoxia patterned after the episodic desaturation seen in humans with sleep apnea. The result of this type of intermittent hypoxia in rats is a 10- to 14-mmHg increase in resting (unstimulated) mean blood pressure that lasts for several weeks after cessation of the daily cyclic hypoxia. Carotid body denervation, sympathetic nerve ablation, renal sympathectomy, adrenal medullectomy, and angiotensin II receptor blockade block the blood pressure increase. It appears that adrenergic and renin-angiotensin system overactivity contributes to the early chronic elevated blood pressure in rat intermittent hypoxia and perhaps to human hypertension associated with obstructive sleep apnea.

2007 ◽  
Vol 103 (3) ◽  
pp. 835-842 ◽  
Author(s):  
Urs A. Leuenberger ◽  
Cynthia S. Hogeman ◽  
Sadeq Quraishi ◽  
Latoya Linton-Frazier ◽  
Kristen S. Gray

Short-term intermittent hypoxia leads to sustained sympathetic activation and a small increase in blood pressure in healthy humans. Because obstructive sleep apnea, a condition associated with intermittent hypoxia, is accompanied by elevated sympathetic activity and enhanced sympathetic chemoreflex responses to acute hypoxia, we sought to determine whether intermittent hypoxia also enhances chemoreflex activity in healthy humans. To this end, we measured the responses of muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA, peroneal microneurography) to arterial chemoreflex stimulation and deactivation before and following exposure to a paradigm of repetitive hypoxic apnea (20 s/min for 30 min; O2 saturation nadir 81.4 ± 0.9%). Compared with baseline, repetitive hypoxic apnea increased MSNA from 113 ± 11 to 159 ± 21 units/min ( P = 0.001) and mean blood pressure from 92.1 ± 2.9 to 95.5 ± 2.9 mmHg ( P = 0.01; n = 19). Furthermore, compared with before, following intermittent hypoxia the MSNA (units/min) responses to acute hypoxia [fraction of inspired O2 (FiO2) 0.1, for 5 min] were enhanced (pre- vs. post-intermittent hypoxia: +16 ± 4 vs. +49 ± 10%; P = 0.02; n = 11), whereas the responses to hyperoxia (FiO2 0.5, for 5 min) were not changed significantly ( P = NS; n = 8). Thus 30 min of intermittent hypoxia is capable of increasing sympathetic activity and sensitizing the sympathetic reflex responses to hypoxia in normal humans. Enhanced sympathetic chemoreflex activity induced by intermittent hypoxia may contribute to altered neurocirculatory control and adverse cardiovascular consequences in sleep apnea.


2020 ◽  
Vol 318 (1) ◽  
pp. H34-H48
Author(s):  
Alexandria B. Marciante ◽  
Lei A. Wang ◽  
Joel T. Little ◽  
J. Thomas Cunningham

Obstructive sleep apnea is characterized by interrupted breathing that leads to cardiovascular sequelae including chronic hypertension that can persist into the waking hours. Chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH), which models the hypoxemia associated with sleep apnea, is sufficient to cause a sustained increase in blood pressure that involves the central nervous system. The median preoptic nucleus (MnPO) is an integrative forebrain region that contributes to blood pressure regulation and neurogenic hypertension. The MnPO projects to the paraventricular nucleus (PVN), a preautonomic region. We hypothesized that pathway-specific lesions of the projection from the MnPO to the PVN would attenuate the sustained component of chronic intermittent hypoxia-induced hypertension. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats (250–300 g) were anesthetized with isoflurane and stereotaxically injected bilaterally in the PVN with a retrograde Cre-containing adeno-associated virus (AAV; AAV9.CMV.HI.eGFP-Cre.WPRE.SV40) and injected in the MnPO with caspase-3 (AAV5-flex-taCasp3-TEVp) or control virus (AAV5-hSyn-DIO-mCherry). Three weeks after the injections the rats were exposed to a 7-day intermittent hypoxia protocol. During chronic intermittent hypoxia, controls developed a diurnal hypertension that was blunted in rats with caspase lesions. Brain tissue processed for FosB immunohistochemistry showed decreased staining with caspase-induced lesions of MnPO and downstream autonomic-regulating nuclei. Chronic intermittent hypoxia significantly increased plasma levels of advanced oxidative protein products in controls, but this increase was blocked in caspase-lesioned rats. The results indicate that PVN-projecting MnPO neurons play a significant role in blood pressure regulation in the development of persistent chronic intermittent hypoxia hypertension. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Chronic intermittent hypoxia associated with obstructive sleep apnea increases oxidative stress and leads to chronic hypertension. Sustained hypertension may be mediated by angiotensin II-induced neural plasticity of excitatory median preoptic neurons in the forebrain that project to the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus. Selective caspase lesions of these neurons interrupt the drive for sustained hypertension and cause a reduction in circulating oxidative protein products. This indicates that a functional connection between the forebrain and hypothalamus is necessary to drive diurnal hypertension associated with intermittent hypoxia. These results provide new information about central mechanisms that may contribute to neurogenic hypertension.


2018 ◽  
Vol 124 (4) ◽  
pp. 821-830 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ling Chen ◽  
Zahra Heidari Zadi ◽  
Jin Zhang ◽  
Steven M. Scharf ◽  
Eung-Kwon Pae

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is common in pregnancy and may compromise fetal and even postnatal development. We developed an animal model to determine if maternal OSA could have lasting effects in offspring. Pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to reduced ambient O2 from 21 to 4–5%, approximately once per minute [chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH)] for 8 h/day during gestation days 3–19. Similarly handled animals exposed to ambient air served as controls (HC). Offspring were studied for body growth and cardiovascular function for 8 postnatal weeks. Compared with HC, prenatal CIH led to growth restriction, indicated by smaller body weight and tibial length, and higher arterial blood pressure in both male and female offspring. Compared with same-sex HC, CIH males showed abdominal obesity (greater ratio of abdominal fat weight to body weight or tibial length), left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy (greater heart weight-to-tibial length ratio and LV posterior wall diastolic thickness), elevated LV contractility (increases in LV ejection fraction, end-systolic pressure-volume relations, and preload recruitable stroke work), elevated LV and arterial stiffness (increased end-diastolic pressure-volume relationship and arterial elasticity), and LV oxidative stress (greater lipid peroxide content). Compared with female CIH offspring, male CIH offspring had more profound changes in blood pressure (BP), cardiac function, myocardial lipid peroxidase (LPO) content, and abdominal adiposity. Rodent prenatal CIH exposure, mimicking human maternal OSA, exerts detrimental morphological and cardiovascular effects on developing offspring; the model may provide useful insights of OSA effects in humans. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Obstructive sleep apnea is common in human pregnancy. Following maternal exposure to chronic intermittent hypoxia, a hallmark of sleep apnea, both sexes of rat offspring showed growth retardation, with males being more vulnerable to hypertension and dysfunctional left ventricular changes. This model is useful to study detrimental effects of maternal obstructive sleep apnea on developing offspring in humans.


2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 156-163
Author(s):  
Yu. V. Sviryaev ◽  
N. E. Zvartau ◽  
L. S. Korostovtseva ◽  
A. L. Kalinkin ◽  
A. O. Konradi ◽  
...  

Objective.To assess efficiency of angiotensin II converting enzyme inhibitor Perindopril versus angiotensin II receptor blocker Telmisartan in hypertensive patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS).Design and methods.Sixty hypertensive patients with OSAS (non-CPAP-users) were enrolled in a randomized controlled open study: 48 males and 12 females; mean age — 56,2 ± 9,5 years; hypertension duration — 12,5 ± 7,4 years; body mass index — 32,0 ± 5,9 kg/m2, apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) — 35,4 ± 24,2 episodes per hour of sleep. All patients were divided into 2 groups: patients (n = 30) from the 1st group got Telmisartan 40 mg daily (titrated up to 80 mg daily if necessary), and Perindopril 4 mg daily (titrated up to 8 mg daily) was prescribed to 2nd group (n = 30). The treatment lasted for 12 weeks. Results.Twenty three patients in Telmisartan group and 24 patients in Perindopril group achieved goal blood pressure (< 140/90 mmHg) (χ2 = 1,23; p > 0,05), all patients got maximal doses of medications. The reduction of offi ce and 24-hour blood pressure was comparable in both groups. Circadian blood pressure profi le was normalized in 17 patients from Telmisartan group and in 9 patients from Perindopril group (χ2 = 6,21; p < 0,05). At the same time AHI decreased by 19 episodes per hour of sleep in Telmisartan group, while it increased by 10,1 episodes per hour of sleep in Perindopril group (p < 0,01).Conclusion.Telmisartan treatment is beneficial in hypertensive obese patients with OSAS compared to Perindopril due to the reduction of OSAS severity (assessed by AHI) leading to the normalization of circadian blood pressure profile. 


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