Publication date: Available online 31 October 2015 Source:Respiratory Physiology & Neurobiology Author(s): Ken D. O'Halloran Obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) is a common respiratory disorder with devastating consequences for integrative body systems. A picture is emerging to illustrate wide-ranging deleterious consequences of disordered breathing during sleep for major homeostatic control systems, with considerable interest in cardiorespiratory and autonomic morbidity underpinning the development of hypertension. The vista is bleak when one also considers the link between OSAS and a host of other maladies. Exposure to chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH), resulting from repeated obstructions of the pharyngeal airway, is a hallmark feature of OSAS that appears, in animal mo...