| First Author | Rukhadze I | Year | 2017 |
| Journal | Respir Physiol Neurobiol | Volume | 244 |
| Pages | 41-50 | PubMed ID | 28711601 |
| Mgi Jnum | J:351941 | Mgi Id | MGI:7664244 |
| Doi | 10.1016/j.resp.2017.07.001 | Citation | Rukhadze I, et al. (2017) Catecholaminergic A1/C1 neurons contribute to the maintenance of upper airway muscle tone but may not participate in NREM sleep-related depression of these muscles. Respir Physiol Neurobiol 244:41-50 |
| abstractText | Neural mechanisms of obstructive sleep apnea, a common sleep-related breathing disorder, are incompletely understood. Hypoglossal motoneurons, which provide tonic and inspiratory activation of genioglossus (GG) muscle (a major upper airway dilator), receive catecholaminergic input from medullary A1/C1 neurons. We aimed to determine the contribution of A1/C1 neurons in control of GG muscle during sleep and wakefulness. To do so, we placed injections of a viral vector into DBH-cre mice to selectively express the hMD4i inhibitory chemoreceptors in A1/C1 neurons. Administration of the hM4Di ligand, clozapine-N-oxide (CNO), in these mice decreased GG muscle activity during NREM sleep (F(1,1,3)=17.1, p<0.05); a similar non-significant decrease was observed during wakefulness. CNO administration had no effect on neck muscle activity, respiratory parameters or state durations. In addition, CNO-induced inhibition of A1/C1 neurons did not alter the magnitude of the naturally occurring depression of GG activity during transitions from wakefulness to NREM sleep. These findings suggest that A1/C1 neurons have a net excitatory effect on GG activity that is most likely mediated by hypoglossal motoneurons. However, the activity of A1/C1 neurons does not appear to contribute to NREM sleep-related inhibition of GG muscle activity, suggesting that A1/C1 neurons regulate upper airway patency in a state-independent manner. |
