Alteration in obstructive apnea pattern induced by changes in oxygen- and carbon-dioxide-inspired concentrations.

In patients with obstructive apnea, it was hypothesized that stimulation of the ventilatory system by hypercapnia during sleep would increase pharyngeal inspiratory muscle activity and thereby increase upper airway caliber. We predicted that this increase in caliber would decrease the number of apneas and sleep time spent apneic. In contrast, suppression of the ventilatory system activity with hyperoxia was predicted to decrease both inspiratory muscle activity and pharyngeal caliber and thereby increase the number of apneas and apnea time. In all 7 patients with symptomatic obstructive sleep apnea studied, 3 with upper airway narrowing obvious during wakefulness, inhalation of 3 to 6% CO2 preferentially stimulated upper airway inspiratory muscle tonic electrical activity relative to the activity of chest wall inspiratory muscles and diminished periodic breathing. Apnea time decreased from 60 +/- 2% (mean +/- SEM) of sleep time during ambient air inhalation to 12 +/- 3% during CO2 inhalation; 50% O2 had the reverse effect on inspiratory muscle tonic electrical activity and increased apnea time to 75 +/- 5% of sleep time. We conclude that manipulation of inspiratory muscle tonic activity and alteration of the pattern of breathing by CO2 and O2 inhalation lead to significant changes in the pattern of upper airway inspiratory collapse during sleep. We speculate that physiologic variables related to the control of upper airway inspiratory muscle function are instrumental in the pathophysiology of obstructive sleep apnea.