The effects of hypoxia on oxidative stress, inflammation, and DNA in patients with severe sleep apnea syndrome

Background: Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is a disease associated with recurrent apnea-hypopneas during sleep. Apnea-hypopnea attacks cause hypoxia by lowering oxygen saturation levels. Oxidative stress induced by hypoxia can lead to inflammation and DNA damage. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of intermittent hypoxia on oxidative stress, inflammation and DNA in severe OSAS patients. Methods: A total of 67 individuals were measured by polysomnography during the night. Peripheral ven blood was collected. Cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL, hs-CRP, TAS and TOS values of all subjects were measured in blood serum by calorimetric method. The comet assay method was used to investigate DNA damage. Results: We found a statistically significant increase in oxidative stress and inflammation parameters in severe OSAS patients (p <0.05). Furthermore, we could not detect the effect of severe OSAS disease on DNA damage. (p>0,05). Conclusions: Our results showed that oxidative stress and inflammatory markers changed markedly in severe OSAS patients. However, due to the absence of DNA damage despite the increased oxidative stress, the resulting hypoxia has been interpreted as not yet reaching the level of damage to DNA