Intermittent hypoxia in a mouse model of apnea of prematurity leads to a retardation of cerebellar development and long-term functional deficits

Cell & Bioscience

This paper investigated the impact of apnea of prematurity on cerebellar development and the long-term functional deficits resulting from it, using intermittent hypoxia in a mouse model.
Molecular Neurosciences
Neurodevelopment
Cerebellum
Apnea of Prematurity
Immunohistochemistry
Authors
Affiliations

Agalic Rodriguez-Duboc, MD, PhD

Sarah Leroux, PhD

Arnaud Arabo, PhD

Service des Ressources Biologiques

Magali Basille-Duguay, PhD

David Vaudry, PhD

Delphine Burel, PhD

Published

September 6, 2022

Doi
Abstract

Background: Apnea of prematurity (AOP) is caused by respiratory control immaturity and affects nearly 50% of premature newborns. This pathology induces perinatal intermittent hypoxia (IH), which leads to neurodevelopmental disorders. The impact on the brain has been well investigated. However, despite its functional importance and immaturity at birth, the involvement of the cerebellum remains poorly understood. Therefore, this study aims to identify the effects of IH on cerebellar development using a mouse model of AOP consisting of repeated 2-min cycles of hypoxia and reoxygenation over 6 h and for 10 days starting on postnatal day 2 (P2).

Results: At P12, IH-mouse cerebella present higher oxidative stress associated with delayed maturation of the cerebellar cortex and decreased dendritic arborization of Purkinje cells. Moreover, mice present with growth retardation and motor disorders. In response to hypoxia, the developing cerebellum triggers compensatory mechanisms resulting in the unaltered organization of the cortical layers from P21 onwards. Nevertheless, some abnormalities remain in adult Purkinje cells, such as the dendritic densification, the increase in afferent innervation, and axon hypomyelination. Moreover, this compensation seems insufficient to allow locomotor recovery because adult mice still show motor impairment and significant disorders in spatial learning.

Conclusions: All these findings indicate that the cerebellum is a target of intermittent hypoxia through alterations of developmental mechanisms leading to long-term functional deficits. Thus, the cerebellum could contribute, like other brain structures, to explaining the pathophysiology of AOP.


Reuse

Citation

BibTeX citation:
@article{rodriguez-duboc2022,
  author = {Rodriguez-Duboc, Agalic and Leroux, Sarah and Arabo, Arnaud
    and Basille-Duguay, Magali and Vaudry, David and Burel, Delphine},
  title = {Intermittent Hypoxia in a Mouse Model of Apnea of Prematurity
    Leads to a Retardation of Cerebellar Development and Long-Term
    Functional Deficits},
  journal = {Cell \& Bioscience},
  volume = {12},
  number = {1},
  date = {2022-09-06},
  url = {https://cellandbioscience.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13578-022-00869-5},
  doi = {10.1186/s13578-022-00869-5},
  issn = {2045-3701},
  langid = {en},
  abstract = {**Background:** Apnea of prematurity (AOP) is caused by
    respiratory control immaturity and affects nearly 50\% of premature
    newborns. This pathology induces perinatal intermittent hypoxia
    (IH), which leads to neurodevelopmental disorders. The impact on the
    brain has been well investigated. However, despite its functional
    importance and immaturity at birth, the involvement of the
    cerebellum remains poorly understood. Therefore, this study aims to
    identify the effects of IH on cerebellar development using a mouse
    model of AOP consisting of repeated 2-min cycles of hypoxia and
    reoxygenation over 6 h and for 10 days starting on postnatal day 2
    (P2). **Results:** At P12, IH-mouse cerebella present higher
    oxidative stress associated with delayed maturation of the
    cerebellar cortex and decreased dendritic arborization of Purkinje
    cells. Moreover, mice present with growth retardation and motor
    disorders. In response to hypoxia, the developing cerebellum
    triggers compensatory mechanisms resulting in the unaltered
    organization of the cortical layers from P21 onwards. Nevertheless,
    some abnormalities remain in adult Purkinje cells, such as the
    dendritic densification, the increase in afferent innervation, and
    axon hypomyelination. Moreover, this compensation seems insufficient
    to allow locomotor recovery because adult mice still show motor
    impairment and significant disorders in spatial learning.
    **Conclusions:** All these findings indicate that the cerebellum is
    a target of intermittent hypoxia through alterations of
    developmental mechanisms leading to long-term functional deficits.
    Thus, the cerebellum could contribute, like other brain structures,
    to explaining the pathophysiology of AOP.}
}
For attribution, please cite this work as:
Rodriguez-Duboc, A., Leroux, S., Arabo, A., Basille-Duguay, M., Vaudry, D., & Burel, D. (2022). Intermittent hypoxia in a mouse model of apnea of prematurity leads to a retardation of cerebellar development and long-term functional deficits. Cell & Bioscience, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13578-022-00869-5