Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSA) is a frequent condition affecting up to 2 percent of the pediatric population at ages that are characteristically associated with dynamic brain development and acquisition of important neurocognitive functions. OSA is characterized by repeated episodes of hypoxia during sleep, and when untreated it is associated with significant neurocognitive morbidities such as excessive restlessness and irritability, diminished intellectual performance, attention span, learning and vigilance. However, the relative contributions of chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH) to OSA-associated neurocognitive dysfunction in children remain unclear. In adult rats, a CIII profile that mimics the intermittent hypoxia observed in patients with OSA during sleep leads to substantial reductions in spatial learning and retention as well as diminished ability to induce long-term potentiation in the CA1 region of the hippocampus. These neurobehavioral and physiological alterations correlate with anatomical changes developing in cortico-hippocampal regions., and we have found that such anatomical changes are particularly prominent in developing rat pups at post-natal ages that coincide with the peak prevalence of USA in children, suggesting that this period of brain maturation is uniquely vulnerable to CIH. We therefore hypothesized that the detrimental effects of CIH on memory and learning performances during this highly vulnerable developmental period are long-lasting, and will be manifest even during adulthood, long after the CIH exposure has ceased. Furthermore, these neurocognitive deficits will be associated and correlated with parallel electrophysiological alterations in the characteristics of long-term potentiation (LTP) of the CAl region of the hippocampus, as well as with disruption of normal ionotropic glutamate receptor expression and binding characteristics within the cortex and hippocampus. We propose to: (1) examine the short-term and long-term consequences of CIH on behavioral patterning and on water maze task acquisition and retention. (2) To assess the short-term and long-lasting effects of CIH on LTP characteristics of the CA1 region of the hippocampus.; (3) To establish changes in NMDA glutamate receptor expression and binding characteristics in neocortical and hippocampal regions associated with CIH, and following long-term recovery; (4) To determine whether exposure to CIH during a critically-vulnerable period of development will elicit time-dependent glial and neuronal stem cell proliferation within cortical and hippocampal regions. These studies will characterize concomitant structural and phenotypic changes induced by CIH in a developmental rodent model of OSA, and provide initial insights into the role of CIH in short-term and long-term neurobehavioral morbidity of USA in children.
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