An exploratory study on the association between serotonin and sleep breathing disorders

Mieszko Wieckiewicz; Helena Martynowicz; Gilles Lavigne; Frank Lobbezoo; Takafumi Kato; Efraim Winocur; Joanna Wezgowiec; Dariusz Danel; Anna Wojakowska; Grzegorz Mazur; Joanna Smardz

doi:10.1038/s41598-023-38842-y

An exploratory study on the association between serotonin and sleep breathing disorders

Sci Rep. 2023 Jul 21;13(1):11800. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-38842-y.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Experimental Dentistry, Wroclaw Medical University, Wroclaw, Poland. m.wieckiewicz@onet.pl.
² Department and Clinic of Internal Medicine, Occupational Diseases, Hypertension and Clinical Oncology, Wroclaw Medical University, Wroclaw, Poland.
³ Faculty of Dental Medicine, Universite de Montreal, CIUSSS Nord Ile de Montreal and CHUM, Montreal, Canada.
⁴ Department of Orofacial Pain and Dysfunction, Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA), University of Amsterdam and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
⁵ Department of Oral Physiology, Osaka University Graduate School of Dentistry, Suita, Japan.
⁶ Department of Oral Rehabilitation, The Maurice and Gabriela Goldschleger School of Dental Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
⁷ Department of Experimental Dentistry, Wroclaw Medical University, Wroclaw, Poland.
⁸ Department of Anthropology, Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wroclaw, Poland.

Abstract

This exploratory observational study aimed to evaluate whether the blood levels of serotonin and enzymes involved in serotonin synthesis are associated with sleep breathing parameters. A total of 105 patients were included in this study, who were subjected to single-night polysomnography with simultaneous audio-video recordings. Peripheral blood samples were collected to estimate the serum levels of serotonin, tryptophan hydroxylase 1 (TPH1), and aromatic l-amino acid decarboxylase (AADC). Results showed a negative correlation between blood serotonin levels, and oxygen desaturation index (ODI) (p = 0.027), central apnea (p = 0.044) and obstructive apnea (OA) (p = 0.032) scores. Blood TPH1 levels were negatively correlated with average (p = 0.003) and minimal saturation (p = 0.035) and positively correlated with apnea-hypopnea index (p = 0.010), OA (p = 0.049), and hypopnea index (p = 0.007) scores. A tendency to sleep-disordered breathing seemed to co-occur with lower blood serotonin and higher TPH1 levels.Clinical Trial Registration : www.ClinicalTrials.gov , identifier NCT04214561.

Publication types

Observational Study
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Airway Obstruction*
Humans
Respiration
Serotonin
Sleep
Sleep Apnea Syndromes*
Sleep Apnea, Obstructive*
Sleep Wake Disorders*

Substances

Serotonin

Associated data

ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT04214561