14 DAY TRIAL // The University of Missouri was awarded a $2.83 million multi-investigator grant, by the National Institutes of Health, for further research on the growing issue of sleep apnea and the consequences of the lack of oxygen.
Sleep apnea is a concerning phenomenon that keeps rising among the population, with 12 million Americans reportedly suffering from it, even though it is believed that the figures are much higher in reality.
The sleep apnea event occurs when the muscles in the back of the throat relax during sleep, narrowing or even closing the airways.
The problem is that there are no obvious signs or even blood tests that could detect and diagnose this sleep disorder, and most cases are usually discovered when a partner observes an increase in snoring, or when the patient feels tired and sleepy during the day.
For the research, scientists used an experimental model on lab rats, that mimicked periodic sleep apnea, and allowed them to identify the specific cells and pathways inside the brain that are involved in hypoxia responses.
Their observations were only possible thanks to the latest techniques and equipment of the MU Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, and they hope that this information will be useful for further development of drugs or procedures that could slow down or even correct the effects of sleep apnea.
Eileen Hasser, professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and adjunct professor of medical pharmacology and physiology said that “working together, we each bring different skills and ways of looking at the problem, which increases our ability to answer the important questions in this field.”
This four-year grant allows the scientists to continue their work on neurohumoral control of the circulation and breathing, and find out exactly how the brain responds to the lack of oxygen caused by sleep apnea.
According to information from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, people suffering from sleep apnea stop breathing and lose oxygen between five and 30 times a night, and this leads to several health problems like high blood pressure, vascular disease, an abnormal heart rhythm, or even a fatal cardiac event.
The team including Eileen Hasser, Cheryl Heesch, professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and David Kline, assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, have already found out more about the way that the brain adapts to a lower quantity of oxygen during the night, but further research is necessary.
Their first year results were recently published in the scientific journal, Neuroscience.