Wheatley J R, Tangel D J, Mezzanotte W S, White D P
Pulmonary Division, Denver Veterans Administration Medical Center, National Jewish Center for Immunology and Respiratory Medicine, Colorado.
J Appl Physiol (1985). 1993 Nov;75(5):2117-24. doi: 10.1152/jappl.1993.75.5.2117.
Increased retropalatal airway resistance may be caused by a sleep-induced loss of palatal muscle activity and a diminished ability of these muscles to respond to the increasing intrapharyngeal negative pressure that develops during sleep. To investigate these possibilities, in six normal subjects, we determined the effect of non-rapid-eye-movement sleep on 1) the tensor palatini (TP) electromyogram (EMG) response to rapid-onset negative-pressure generations (NPG) in the upper airway and 2) the collapsibility of the retropalatal airway during these NPGs. During wakefulness, the change in TP EMG from basal to peak levels (during NPG) was 19.8 +/- 3.2 arbitrary units (P < 0.005). This was markedly reduced during sleep (3.6 +/- 1.5 arbitrary units; P < 0.001). The latency of the TP EMG response was 48.5 +/- 5.6 ms during wakefulness but was prolonged during sleep (105.0 +/- 12.2 ms; P < 0.02). The peak transpalatal pressure during NPG (a measure of airway collapse) was 2.1 +/- 0.7 cmH2O during wakefulness and increased to 5.3 +/- 0.8 cmH2O during sleep (P < 0.05). We conclude that the brisk reflex response of the TP muscle to negative pressure during wakefulness is markedly reduced during non-rapid-eye-movement sleep, in association with a more collapsible retropalatal airway. We speculate that the reduction in this TP reflex response contributes to retropalatal airway narrowing during sleep in normal subjects.
腭后气道阻力增加可能是由于睡眠导致腭部肌肉活动丧失，以及这些肌肉对睡眠期间咽部负压增加的反应能力减弱所致。为了研究这些可能性，我们对6名正常受试者进行了研究，测定了非快速眼动睡眠对以下两方面的影响：1）腭帆张肌（TP）肌电图（EMG）对气道快速产生负压（NPG）的反应；2）在这些NPG期间腭后气道的可塌陷性。清醒时，TP肌电图从基础水平到峰值水平（在NPG期间）的变化为19.8±3.2个任意单位（P<0.005）。睡眠期间这一变化显著降低（3.6±1.5个任意单位；P<0.001）。TP肌电图反应的潜伏期在清醒时为48.5±5.6毫秒，但在睡眠期间延长（105.0±12.2毫秒；P<0.02）。NPG期间的峰值跨腭压（气道塌陷的一个指标）在清醒时为2.1±0.7厘米水柱，在睡眠期间增加到5.3±0.8厘米水柱（P<0.05）。我们得出结论，在非快速眼动睡眠期间，TP肌对负压的快速反射反应明显降低，同时腭后气道更易塌陷。我们推测，这种TP反射反应的降低有助于正常受试者睡眠期间腭后气道变窄。
