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Carotid body chemoreflex: a driver of autonomic abnormalities in sleep apnoea
Author(s) -
Prabhakar Nanduri R.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
experimental physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.925
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1469-445X
pISSN - 0958-0670
DOI - 10.1113/ep085624
Subject(s) - carotid body , intermittent hypoxia , hypoxia (environmental) , medicine , sleep (system call) , sleep apnea , breathing , apnea , control of respiration , arousal , respiratory system , neuroscience , anesthesia , obstructive sleep apnea , biology , electrophysiology , chemistry , computer science , operating system , organic chemistry , oxygen
New FindingsWhat is the topic of this review? This article presents emerging evidence for heightened carotid body chemoreflex activity as a major driver of sympathetic activation and hypertension in sleep apnoea patients.What advances does it heighlight? This article discusses the recent advances on cellular, molecular and epigenetic mechanisms underlying the exaggerated chemoreflex in experimental models of sleep apnoea.The carotid bodies are the principal peripheral chemoreceptors for detecting changes in arterial blood oxygen concentration, and the resulting chemoreflex is a potent regulator of the sympathetic tone, blood pressure and breathing. Sleep apnoea is a disease of the respiratory system that affects several million adult humans. Apnoeas occur during sleep, often as a result of obstruction of the upper airway (obstructive sleep apnoea) or because of defective respiratory rhythm generation by the CNS (central sleep apnoea). Patients with sleep apnoea exhibit several co‐morbidities, with the most notable among them being heightened sympathetic nerve activity and hypertension. Emerging evidence suggests that intermittent hypoxia resulting from periodic apnoea stimulates the carotid body, and the ensuing chemoreflex mediates the increased sympathetic tone and hypertension in sleep apnoea patients. Rodent models of intermittent hypoxia that simulate the O 2 saturation profiles encountered during sleep apnoea have provided important insights into the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the heightened carotid body chemoreflex. This article describes how intermittent hypoxia affects the carotid body function and discusses the cellular, molecular and epigenetic mechanisms underlying the exaggerated chemoreflex.