Intermittent Hypoxia as a Model of Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Present and Future.

Intermittent hypoxia (IH) is an extremely frequent condition characterized by recurrent episodes of reduced oxygen levels interspersed with periods of normoxia, often seen in conditions like obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and lung diseases. Among OSA patients, IH occurs due to periodic airway obstructions during sleep, leading to transient drops in blood oxygen saturation followed by reoxygenation. Future directions involve standardizing IH protocols, incorporating patient variability into the IH profiles being administered, and utilizing strategically developed animal models to enhance the reliability and applicability of IH-related research.