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Prolonged dry apnoea: effects on brain activity and physiological functions in breath-hold divers and non-divers

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European Journal of Applied Physiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of voluntary breath-holding on brain activity and physiological functions. We hypothesised that prolonged apnoea would trigger cerebral hypoxia, resulting in a decrease of brain performance; and the apnoea’s effects would be more pronounced in breath-hold divers.

Methods

Trained breath-hold divers and non-divers performed maximal dry breath-holdings. Lung volume, alveolar partial pressures of O2 and CO2, attention and anxiety levels were estimated. Heart rate, blood pressure, arterial blood oxygenation, brain tissue oxygenation, EEG, and DC potential were monitored continuously during breath-holding.

Results

There were a few significant changes in electrical brain activity caused by prolonged apnoea. Brain tissue oxygenation index and DC potential were relatively stable up to the end of the apnoea in breath-hold divers and non-divers. We also did not observe any decrease of attention level or speed of processing immediately after breath-holding. Interestingly, trained breath-hold divers had some peculiarities in EEG activity at resting state (before any breath-holding): non-spindled, sharpened alpha rhythm; slowed-down alpha with the frequency nearer to the theta band; and untypical spatial pattern of alpha activity.

Conclusion

Our findings contradicted the primary hypothesis. Apnoea up to 5 min does not lead to notable cerebral hypoxia or a decrease of brain performance in either breath-hold divers or non-divers. It seems to be the result of the compensatory mechanisms similar to the diving response aimed at centralising blood circulation and reducing peripheral O2 uptake. Adaptive changes during apnoea are much more prominent in trained breath-hold divers.

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Abbreviations

C-group:

Control group

D-group:

Breath-hold divers’ group

DC potential:

Direct current potential

ECG:

Electrocardiogram

EEG:

Electroencephalogram

HR:

Heart rate

MAP:

Mean arterial pressure

BH:

Breath-holding

PA CO2 :

CO2 partial pressure in alveolar air

PA O2 :

O2 partial pressure in alveolar air

RB:

Rhythmical breathing before breath-holding

SpO2 :

Arterial blood oxygenation index

TOI:

Brain tissue oxygenation index

\(\dot{V}\)CO2 :

Carbon dioxide release rate

\(\dot{V}\)O2 :

Pulmonary oxygen consumption rate

Δ[tHb]:

Change of total haemoglobin in brain tissue

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the breath-hold divers and the control group subjects for their enthusiastic participation in the study. We also thank Anastasia Sharapkova for improving the English language of the manuscript. This work was supported by the Program of Basic Research of Department of Physiology and Basic Medicine of Russian Academy of Sciences, by the Program “Psychophysiological bases of human activity” AAAA-A16-116021660050-6 and by the grant of Russian Foundation for Basic Research 12-04-01665-a.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Higher Nervous Activity, Faculty of Biology, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119234, Leninskie Gory 1/12, Moscow, Russia

    Patricia Ratmanova, Roxana Semenyuk & Dmitry Napalkov

  2. Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 123007, Khoroshevskoye Sh., 76A, Moscow, Russia

    Daniil Popov, Sergey Kuznetsov, Irina Zelenkova & Olga Vinogradova

  3. Russian Olympic Committee Innovation Center, 119991, Luzhnetskaya Embankment 8, Moscow, Russia

    Irina Zelenkova

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  1. Patricia Ratmanova
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  2. Roxana Semenyuk
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  3. Daniil Popov
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  4. Sergey Kuznetsov
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Correspondence to Patricia Ratmanova.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Communicated by Massimo Pagani.

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Ratmanova, P., Semenyuk, R., Popov, D. et al. Prolonged dry apnoea: effects on brain activity and physiological functions in breath-hold divers and non-divers. Eur J Appl Physiol 116, 1367–1377 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-016-3390-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-016-3390-2

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