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Brain Can Learn to Deal with Sleep Apnea, New Study Reveals
New research from the University of Toronto could provide some restful nights for the 18 million North Americans who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea.
In a recent study that appeared in the Journal of Neuroscience, scientists from the University demonstrated that repeated obstruction of the airways requires release of the brain chemical noradrenaline. The release of this chemical helps the brain learn to breathe more effectively and purposefully.
"What we showed is that repeated disruption of normal lung activity – what happens during sleep apnea – triggers a form of learning that helps you breathe better. This type of brain plasticity could be harnessed to help overcome the breathing insufficiency that typifies sleep apnea" says Dr. John Peever, Associate Professor of neuroscience and lead author of the study.
In order to mimic the experience of severe sleep apnea, the scientists induced short 15 second apneas in sedated rats by repeatedly restricting airflow into the lungs. They found repeated apneas caused the brain to progressively trigger more forceful contraction of the respiratory muscles, which caused an increase in breathing. This increase in breathing lasted for over an hour.
Peever says it seems the brain is using the unwanted side-effects of sleep apnea to help it learn to prevent future apneas by increasing the depth of breathing.
This study also pinpointed the brain chemical that allows this type of plasticity to occur. They found that noradrenaline is required in the case of repeated apneas to cause brain plasticity and enhance breathing.
These findings are important because they suggest that artificial manipulation with common drugs that affect noradrenaline levels in the brain could also help improve breathing in patients suffering from sleep apnea. This work could serve as the potential basis for developing the long sought after pill for sleep apnea.Provided by University of Toronto
Views: 30
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mike on
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inquiry into how the brain handles obstructions is very important. i have noticed that i feel a lot worse now when i don't use my CPAP than when i was not diagnosed/ treated at all. I often wonder whether my brain had adapted to some extent before and is now "spoiled"/ does less because it's learned to be reliant on CPAP.
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i assumed they were talking about garden variety OSA. i think that's what's exciting about it.
Rooster said:
Quote: Peever says it seems the brain is using the unwanted side-effects of sleep apnea to help it learn to prevent future apneas by increasing the depth of breathing.
Mike, Are they talking about central sleep apnea? I am skeptical that more forceful breathing prevents obstructive apneas. My doctor has told me it will not.
As far as feeling worse without CPAP now compared to before diagnosis/treatment, I think before treatment we just did not know how damn bad we really felt.
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Permalink Reply by Rooster on
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OK, here is a better article http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/abstract/30/50/16886
Note this statement, "In summary, we identify a novel form of hypoxia- and 5-HT-independent respiratory motor plasticity that is triggered by physiological modulation of vagal feedback and is mediated by
1-adrenergic receptor activation on (or near) hypoglossal motoneurons. "Now I will agree that there is some possibility that stimulation of the hypoglossal nerve in this way could lead to improved airway patency in OSA patients.
It is unfortunate that more popular publications describe the process as "more forceful contraction of the respiratory muscles". It appears the study did not say this but instead was referring to airway muscles not respiratory (diaphragm) muscles.
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Permalink Reply by RockRpsgt on
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Rooster said:"Mike, Are they talking about central sleep apnea? I am skeptical that more forceful breathing prevents obstructive apneas. My doctor has told me it will not."
Are they talking about about forceful breathing or more efficient breathing?
"As far as feeling worse without CPAP now compared to before diagnosis/treatment, I think before treatment we just did not know how damn bad we really felt."
Time and past feelings are the 2 things that the brain has trouble picturing as a memory. We never remember exactly how good or bad something felt. Only that it was painful, bad, or good.
Why didn't they just study UARS patients. This would have given a much better "human" model than rats. It's is obvious that RERAS are an evolutionary event to a product of evolution. Makes no sense.
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