Table 1.

Comparison of cell counts, percentages of c-Fos-positive cells, and numbers of brain sections in which cells were counted among the different medullary and pontine catecholaminergic cell groups

	c-Fos-Positive DBH Cells per Animal			All DBH Cells Per Animal			Percentage of c-Fos-Positive DBH Cells re. All DBH, %			Brain Sections Analyzed per Animal
Cell Group	CIH	Sham	P	CIH	Sham	P	CIH	Sham	P	CIH	Sham	P
Medulla
A1	153 ± 31	161 ± 30	0.55	296 ± 55	282 ± 49	0.70	51.2 ± 2.4	57.4 ± 2.6	0.04	12 ± 1	11 ± 1	0.33
C1	75 ± 15	68 ± 13	0.69	152 ± 24	130 ± 25	0.46	49.4 ± 5.2	52.8 ± 4.3	0.48	5 ± 1	4 ± 1	0.26
A2/C2	100 ± 15	116 ± 26	0.57	183 ± 20	201 ± 35	0.66	53.4 ± 2.9	56.9 ± 6.0	0.57	8 ± 1	7 ± 1	0.34
A5 Caudal	43 ± 10	46 ± 13	0.64	80 ± 14	76 ± 16	0.71	51.6 ± 4.6	57.7 ± 5.2	0.07	3.1 ± 0.4	3.3 ± 0.4	0.68
Pons
A5 Rostral	31 ± 5	32 ± 9	0.95	61 ± 9	64 ± 17	0.91	50.4 ± 4.5	46.3 ± 3.9	0.32	2.3 ± 0.3	2.3 ± 0.5	0.91
Sub-C	45 ± 5	31 ± 6	0.14	111 ± 11	74 ± 13	0.14	40.8 ± 2.8	40.7 ± 3.3	0.95	5.5 ± 0.3	4.5 ± 0.6	0.29
A7	21 ± 4	20 ± 6	0.67	42 ± 5	39 ± 8	0.74	50.0 ± 7.6	51.4 ± 5.6	0.83	2.4 ± 0.3	1.9 ± 0.2	0.20

Values are means ± SE. Data are from 6 rats exposed to chronic-intermittent hypoxia (CIH) and 6 rats subjected to sham treatment.The percentage of dopamine β-hydroxylase (DBH) cells expressing c-Fos was consistently lower in CIH rats for the medullary cell groups, with the difference being statistically significant for the A1 group and nearly significant for the caudal A5 group. There was no consistent effect of CIH on the pontine cell groups. Neither the raw cell counts nor the numbers of brain sections differed between the treatment groups. P values show significance levels based on post hoc paired comparisons within each cell group.