Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs Approach to Treatment of Sleep-disordered Breathing

Obstructive sleep apnea is recurrent upper airway obstruction caused by a loss of upper airway muscle tone during sleep. The main goal of our study was to determine if designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADD) could be used to activate the genioglossus muscle as a potential...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine 2021-01, Vol.203 (1), p.102-110
Main Authors: Fleury Curado, Thomaz, Pho, Huy, Freire, Carla, Amorim, Mateus R, Bonaventura, Jordi, Kim, Lenise J, Lee, Rachel, Cabassa, Meaghan E, Streeter, Stone R, Branco, Luiz G, Sennes, Luiz U, Fishbein, Kenneth, Spencer, Richard G, Schwartz, Alan R, Brennick, Michael J, Michaelides, Michael, Fuller, David D, Polotsky, Vsevolod Y
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Airway management
Animals
Designer Drugs - therapeutic use
Disease Models, Animal
Humans
Hypoglossal Nerve - drug effects
Male
Mice
Muscular system
Original
Pharyngeal Muscles - drug effects
Receptors, Drug - drug effects
Respiration - drug effects
Sleep
Sleep apnea
Sleep Apnea, Obstructive - drug therapy
Sleep Apnea, Obstructive - physiopathology
Sleep deprivation
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Obstructive sleep apnea is recurrent upper airway obstruction caused by a loss of upper airway muscle tone during sleep. The main goal of our study was to determine if designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADD) could be used to activate the genioglossus muscle as a potential novel treatment strategy for sleep apnea. We have previously shown that the prototypical DREADD ligand clozapine-N-oxide increased pharyngeal diameter in mice expressing DREADD in the hypoglossal nucleus. However, the need for direct brainstem viral injections and clozapine-N-oxide toxicity diminished translational potential of this approach, and breathing during sleep was not examined. Here, we took advantage of our model of sleep-disordered breathing in diet-induced obese mice, retrograde properties of the adeno-associated virus serotype 9 (AAV9) viral vector, and the novel DREADD ligand J60. We administered AAV9-hSyn-hM3(Gq)-mCherry or control AAV9 into the genioglossus muscle of diet-induced obese mice and examined the effect of J60 on genioglossus activity, pharyngeal patency, and breathing during sleep. Compared with control, J60 increased genioglossus tonic activity by greater than sixfold and tongue uptake of 2-deoxy-2-[ F]fluoro-d-glucose by 1.5-fold. J60 increased pharyngeal patency and relieved upper airway obstruction during non-REM sleep. We conclude that following intralingual administration of AAV9-DREADD, J60 can activate the genioglossus muscle and improve pharyngeal patency and breathing during sleep.
ISSN:1073-449X
1535-4970
DOI:10.1164/rccm.202002-0321OC