Sleep disturbances are common following traumatic brain injury (TBI). The intent of this study is to characterize the role of the noradrenergic locus coeruleus (LC) for sleep maintenance in service members following mild TBI by associating microstructural features, derived from diffusion MRI, of the LC–noradrenergic (NA) system with objective sleep measures. We found that severity of sleep apnea, particularly in rapid eye movement stage during sleep, significantly correlated with microstructural changes in the LC pathways to hypothalamus in mTBI participants. This result suggests sleep apnea following mild TBI may be modulated by sympathetic activity via pathways interconnecting LC and hypothalamus.
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