Current Issue

Research progress on chronic intermittent hypoxia and cognitive impairment

QI Ke-Rong¹, CHEN Xue¹, SI Jian-Chao¹, YANG Sheng-Chang^1,2,*

¹Department of Physiology, Hebei University of Chinese Medicine, Shijiazhuang 050091, China；²Hebei Technology Innovation Center of TCM Combined Hydrogen Medicine, Shijiazhuang 050091, China

Abstract

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) affects quality of life and health in nearly 1 billion patients all over the world. With aging society, OSA increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and leads to severe cognitive impairment. Chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH), the core pathological mechanism of OSA, may induce synaptic plasticity damage and cognitive impairment, and decrease learning and memory and attention ability. However, the molecular mechanism underlying OSA is still not fully understood. And, there is no targeted treatment strategy for cognitive impairment in patients with OSA. Firstly, the correlation between OSA and cognitive dysfunction was summarized in this review. Secondly, the molecular mechanism of CIH-induced cognitive impairment was elucidated from the perspectives of synaptic plasticity damage, oxidative stress, inflammation, endoplasmic reticulum stress, apoptosis, mitochondrial dysfunction and autophagy. Finally, the current treatment strategy for cognitive impairment in patients with OSA was summarized.

Key words: obstructive sleep apnea; chronic intermittent hypoxia; cognitive impairment; oxidative stress; inflammation

Received: 　　Accepted:

Corresponding author: 杨胜昌　　E-mail:

Citing This Article：

QI Ke-Rong, CHEN Xue, SI Jian-Chao, YANG Sheng-Chang. Research progress on chronic intermittent hypoxia and cognitive impairment. Acta Physiol Sin 2024; 76 (5): 752-760 (in Chinese with English abstract).