The scent of love is in the air(way): a potential drug target for sleep apnea?

Fundamentally, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is characterized by the interaction between impaired pharyngeal anatomy and inadequate dilator muscle function during sleep [1]. Accordingly, strategies to reactivate upper airway dilator muscle activity during sleep are a key target for emerging pharmacotherapy for OSA [1–7]. Indeed, several preclinical, e.g. [8–12] and translational clinical proof of concept findings e.g. [2, 5, 6, 13–18] show considerable promise for the development of OSA pharmacotherapy.