Maternal intermittent hypoxia during pregnancy causes cardiorespiratory deficits and gut dysbiosis in adult male, but not female, offspring

Sleep apnea during pregnancy can detrimentally impact neonatal health, but little is known regarding long-lasting consequences to the offspring. The in utero environment is well-known to affect the etiology of, and susceptibility to, many major public health problems, but prenatal triggers that increase susceptibility to ventilatory control disorders have been poorly investigated. We developed a model of sleep apnea in pregnancy by exposing rat dams to intermittent hypoxia, a hallmark of sleep apnea, during the latter half of pregnancy. Adult male offspring exposed to gestational intermittent hypoxia (GIH) exhibited an increased number of spontaneous apneas during presumptive sleep and increased mean arterial blood pressure. Furthermore, GIH male offspring exhibited gut dysbiosis, specifically with a reduction in taxa that produce the short chain fatty acid butyrate. By contrast, adult female offspring appeared largely unaffected. Collectively, these data indicate that intermittent hypoxia during pregnancy may increase risk for male offspring to develop sleep apnea, hypertension, and gut dysbiosis later in life.