Caroline Rae1, Delwyn Bartlett2, Qiao Yang2, David Walton3, Angela Denotti2, Toos Sachinwalla3, Ron R. Grunstein2
1POWMRI, University of New South Wales, Randwick, NSW, Australia; 2The University of Sydney, Australia; 3RayScan Imaging, Australia
We studied 13 males with severe, untreated OSA whilst asleep using 31P MRS. Hypoxic excursions (≥10% desaturation) resulted in significantly increased Pi and decreased ATP, which resolved on re-oxygenation. There were no changes in PCr or brain pH and no changes in phospho-monoesters or -diesters, and no changes in the signal from the coil phantom. These data show reversible effects on brain bioenergetics in OSA on a seconds time scale and show that sleep hypoxia with parallel loss of cerebrovascular reactivity has significant effects.