Photoperiod Manipulation Reveals a Light-Driven Component to Daily Patterns of Ventilation in Male C57Bl/6J Mice

Obstructive sleep apnea is a common disorder that increases risk for cardiovascular disease and mortality. The severity of sleep-disordered breathing in obstructive patients fluctuates with the seasons, opening possibility seasonal changes light duration, or photoperiod, can influence mechanisms breathing. Photoperiod have profound effects on internal timekeeping reshape metabolic rhythms mammals. While daily rhythm ventilation largely shaped by rate, less known about whether ventilatory are altered accordance metabolism under different photoperiods. Here, we investigate relationship between photoperiods using whole-body plethysmography indirect calorimetry. We find timing chiefly synchronized to dark onset cues important maintaining rhythms. Moreover, patterns not paralleled oxygen consumption, energy expenditure, respiratory exchange rate conclude only circadian but also influenced other light-driven factors. Collectively, these findings clinical implications variations found individuals apnea.