Abstract #4959

Association of White Matter Integrity of Locus Coeruleus Pathways to Hypothalamus and Sleep Apnea in Military Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Ping-Hong Yeh¹, J. Kent Werner, Jr^2,3, Chihwa Song¹, Rujirutana Srikanchana¹, Wei Liu¹, Kimbra Kenney^1,2, Treven Pickett^1,2, Grant Bonavia^1,2, Gerard Riedy^1,2, and John Ollinger¹

¹National Intrepid Center of Excellence, Bethesda, MD, United States, ²Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, United States, ³Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD, United States

Synopsis

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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