Hypoxic stress in sleep apnea causes systemic inflammation and promotes atherosclerosis.

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is frequently associated with the complication of the cardiovascular diseases. However, the precise mechanism causing atherosclerosis has not been fully elucidated. We demonstrated that the productions of inflammatory mediators such as TNF-α and MCP-1 by monocytes were significantly elevated in OSAS patients as compared to in the control subjects. The invasive ability of monocytes evaluated by Matrigel Invasion Chamber was also significantly elevated in OSAS compared to in the control. Furthermore, we demonstrated the experimental exposure to intermittent hypoxia caused not only the increase in the production of inflammatory cytokines by monocytes, but also the decrease in the secretion of adipocytokines by visceral adipocytes of rats.