Intermittent hypoxia damages cerebellar cortex and deep nuclei.
Obstructive sleep apnea patients show cerebellar cortex and deep nuclei gray matter loss, a possible consequence of intermittent hypoxia (IH) accompanying the syndrome. We exposed Sprague-Dawley rats (n=24) to room air only or 10.3% O2, balance N2, alternating every 480 s (240 s duty cycle) with room air for 5, 10, 15, 20 or 30 h (7.5 h per day) during light periods. IH-exposed rats showed increased numbers of damaged Purkinje cells (31.1, 50.5, 54.7, 65.2, and 94.4% for 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30 h groups, respectively; p<0.001 for slopes of the total, swollen/autolysed, and shrunken/dark cell counts), as assessed by hematoxylin and eosin staining. Anti-caspase-3 antibody density increased in the fastigial nuclei subsequent to 5-h exposure. Short-term IH exposure elicits dose-dependent cerebellar Purkinje and fastigial neuron damage.
Pae
Eung-Kwon
EK
Department of Orthodontics, UCLA School of Dentistry, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1668, USA.
Chien
Patricia
P
Harper
Ronald M
RM
D000818:Animals; D001273:Atmosphere Exposure Chambers; D053148:Caspase 3; D020169:Caspases / Q000378:metabolism; D016923:Cell Death / Q000502:physiology; D002525:Cerebellar Cortex / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002529:Cerebellar Nuclei / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D002534:Hypoxia, Brain / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D009410:Nerve Degeneration / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D011689:Purkinje Cells / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012891:Sleep Apnea Syndromes / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D013997:Time Factors
C505410:Casp3 protein, rat; D053148:Caspase 3; D020169:Caspases