Funding outcome

Breathing is controlled by a group of neurons located in the brainstem through cellular and network mechanisms that are still unknown. Defects in this network affect breathing and cause life threatening events, especially during development in term and preterm infants, and during sleep (in particular in REM sleep), when breathing is most susceptible to failure. Sleep disordered breathing is a multifaceted condition that not only poses immediate risks for survival (with occurrence of sudden infant death or sudden unexplained death syndromes) but is also accompanied by increased risk for developing cardiometabolic and neurocognitive disorders later in life. The goal of this project is to test pharmacological and non pharmacological approaches to counteract respiratory disorders of central origin in a model of sleep disordered breathing that we have recently developed. We will use state of the art technologies to depress activity of a brain region that is essential to inspiratory rhythm generation and we will test different approaches designed to potentiate respiration. Our investigation will bring new knowledge on how respiratory rhythms are controlled ·across sleep states. The newly developed preclinical model of sleep disordered breathing provides us with a testable model for the investigation of mechanisms that control breathing across sleep/wake cycles and potential interventions aimed to reduce occurrence of sleep-related respiratory disorderes of central origin. WCHRI