Gut Microbiota and Derived Metabolites Mediate Obstructive Sleep Apnea Induced Atherosclerosis.

Background: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is characterized by intermittent hypoxia/hypercapnia (IHC), affects predominantly obese individuals, and increases atherosclerosis risk. Since we and others have implicated gut microbiota and metabolites in atherogenesis, we dissected their contributions to OSA-induced atherosclerosis.

Results: Atherosclerotic lesions were compared between conventionally-reared specific pathogen free (SPF) and germ-free (GF) mice following a high fat high cholesterol diet (HFHC), with and without IHC conditions.

Diastolic dysfunction evaluation by cardiovascular magnetic resonance derived E, a, e': Comparison to echocardiography.

Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) is the first-line and most useful imaging modality for evaluating diastolic dysfunction (DD). Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) has not been fully evaluated for this task. We investigated the utility of CMR for DD evaluation.