Chronic Intermittent Hypoxia Increases Alveolar Surface Area in Adult Mice. Mus musculus

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) leads to increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, which have been attributed to intermittent hypoxia (IH). The effects of IH on lung structure and function are unknown. We used a mouse model of chronic IH, which mimics the O2 profile in patients with OSA. We exposed adult C57BL/6J mice to 3 months of IH with an FIO2 nadir of 5%, 60 times/hr during the 12hr light phase. Control mice were exposed to room air. Overall design: Gene microarrays were performed in a separate subset of animals (IH, n = 5; control, n = 5). Total RNA was isolated from lung tissue using the Trizol Reagent method, gene microarrays were performed with the Affymetrix GeneChip® Mouse Genome 430A 2.0 Array (MG 430A 2.0; Affymetrix, Inc., Santa Clara, CA) and analyzed using Significance Analysis of Microarray (SAM) software.