Chronic-intermittent hypoxia: a model of sympathetic activation in the rat.
This review focuses upon the development of a small animal model that incorporates exposure to chronic-intermittent hypoxia to produce systemic hypertension similar to that experienced by humans with the obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. It has been suggested that experimentally-induced hypertension, like human hypertension, is due to activation of the sympathetic nervous system. That hypothesis is supported by physiological studies carried out in humans with obstructive sleep apnea as well as in animals exposed to chronic-intermittent hypoxia. Furthermore, recent anatomical studies of exposed animals strongly suggested that activation was widespread and included cortical and brainstem components of the sympathetic system. Such findings, while illustrating the complexity of modeling human disease in animals, also demonstrate the heuristic value of chronic-intermittent hypoxia as an experimental approach.
Sica
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AL
Department of Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care Division (Room C-20), Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Long Island Campus of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New Hyde Park, NY 11040, USA. asica@snet.net
Greenberg
H E
HE
Ruggiero
D A
DA
Scharf
S M
SM
D000818:Animals; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000503:physiopathology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology*
D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos