Sleep disordered breathing (SDB), which is characterized by intermittent hypoxia (IH) during sleep, causes substantial cardiovascular and neurocognitive complications and has become a growing public health problem. SDB is associated with suppression of growth hormone (GH) secretion, the latter being integrally involved in the growth, development and function of the central nervous system (CNS). Since GH treatment is able to attenuate neurocognitive deficits in a hypoxic-ischemic stroke model, GH, GH receptor (GHR) mRNA expression and GH protein expression were assessed in rat hippocampus after exposures to chronic sustained hypoxia (CH, 10% O2) or intermittent hypoxia (IH, 10% O2 alternating with 21% O2 every 90 sec). In addition, the effect of GH treatment (50 µg/kg, daily s.c. injection) on EPO, VEGF, HO-1 and GLUT-1 mRNA expression and neurobehavioral function was assessed. CH significantly increased GH mRNA and protein expression, as well as IGF-1. In contrast, IH only induced a moderate increase in GH mRNA and a slight elevation in GH protein at day 1, but no increases in IGF-1. CH, but not IH, up-regulated GHR mRNA in the hippocampus. IH induced marked neurocognitive deficits compared to CH or room air (RA). Furthermore, exogenous GH administration increased hippocampal mRNA expression of IGF-1, EPO and VEGF, and not only reduced IH-induced hippocampal injury, but also attenuated IH-induced cognitive deficits. Thus, exogenous GH may provide a viable therapeutic intervention to protect IH-vulnerable brain regions from SDB-associated neuronal loss and associated neurocognitive dysfunction.