Disruption of sleep architecture in Prevotella enterotype of patients with obstructive sleep apnea‐hypopnea syndrome

INTRODUCTION: Intermittent hypoxia and sleep fragmentation are critical pathophysiological processes involved in obstructive sleep apnea‐hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS). Those manifestations independently affect similar brain regions and contribute to OSAHS‐related comorbidities that are known to be related to the host gut alteration microbiota. We hypothesized that gut microbiota disruption may cross talk the brain function via the microbiota–gut–brain axis. Thus, we aim to survey enterotypes and polysomnographic data of patients with OSAHS. METHODS: Subjects were diagnosed by polysomnography, from whom fecal samples were obtained and analyzed for the microbiome composition by variable regions 3–4 of 16S rRNA pyrosequencing and bioinformatic analyses. We examined the fasting levels of interleukin‐6 and tumor necrosis factor‐alpha of all subjects. RESULTS: Three enterotypes Bacteroides, Ruminococcus, and Prevotella were identified in patients with OSAHS. Arousal‐related parameters or sleep stages are significantly disrupted in apnea‐hypopnea index (AHI) ≥15 patients with Prevotella enterotype; further analysis this enterotype subjects, obstructive, central, and mixed apnea indices, and mean heart rate are also significantly elevated in AHI ≥15 patients. However, blood cytokines levels of all subjects were not significantly different. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates the possibility of pathophysiological interplay between enterotypes and sleeps structure disruption in sleep apnea through a microbiota–gut–brain axis and offers some new insight toward the pathogenesis of OSAHS.