Chronic intermittent hypoxia exposure induces a unique microglial transcriptome in 5XFAD mice

Clinical observations suggest that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology may be linked; however, causal mechanisms and relationships are unclear. To investigate the potential interaction between amyloidosis and intermittent hypoxia (IH), a hallmark of OSA, starting at 4-months of age 5XFAD mice were exposed to chronic IH (CIH) consisting of 20 episodes per hour of hypoxia for 12 hours/day, daily for 4- (males) or 6-months (females). CIH did not induce significant changes in amyloid burden or the number of astrocytes in males or females, but there was a slight decrease in the number of microglia observed in the cortex of 5XFAD mice of both sexes. To further explore this effect, we performed bulk RNA sequencing on isolated microglia. In WT mice, the most robust gene changes induced by CIH were identified in male microglia, many of which were pro-inflammatory. In microglia from 5XFAD mice, compared to NX, CIH exposure induced comparatively more DEGs in males. Further, in genes that were upregulated by CIH in WT vs 5XFAD mice of both sexes, there was an enrichment of pathways associated with oxidative phosphorylation, aerobic and cellular respiration, and ATP synthesis. These changes indicate that CIH has a more robust effect on the microglial transcriptome in 5XFAD mice than in WT mice, suggesting that the synergy between AD and OSA pathologies may be driven by metabolic changes in the microglial transcriptome. These observations are particularly interesting given the known sex differences in OSA and AD pathology in human disease.