ObjectiveBy detecting the expression of the long non-coding RNA metastasis associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) in myocardial tissue under different hypoxia patterns, to explore the possible mechanism of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)-induced cardiovascular diseases.MethodsSD rats were randomly and equally divided into 4 groups namely a normal (N) group, a continuous hypoxia (CH) group, an intermittent hypoxia (IH) group and an intermittent hypoxia with hypercapnia (IHH) group, and were treated for 1, 2, and 3 weeks. The expression of MALAT1 and associated immune factors of the myocardial tissue were examined by qRT-PCR.ResultsAn elevation without significance was observed in those three hypoxia groups in contrast with N group after 1 week’s treatment. However, in 2 and 3 weeks’ groups, the mRNA expression of MALAT1 was significantly higher in IHH group than the other three groups (all P<0.01), while there was no significant difference among IH, CH or N groups despite an increasing tendency in IH and CH groups against N group were observed. Additionally, the expressions of hypoxia inducible factor-1α (P<0.05), Toll-like receptor 4 (P<0.01) and interleukin-6 (P<0.05) mRNA were also increased significantly in IHH group compared with IH, CH and IHH groups in 3 weeks’ treatment respectively, which were coordinated with the change of MALAT1 mRNA.ConclusionsThe expression of MALAT1 in myocardial tissue is elevated by intermittent hypoxia with hypercapnia, and the tendency is similar with hypoxia-induced inflammation factors. These findings indicate that MALAT1 is probably a regulatory factor of OSA induced myocardial immune injury.