Abstract
Sleep apnea and altered CO2 sensitivity have been implicated in the pathophysiology of SIDS. To investigate the hypothesis that sleep state and postnatal maturation influence minute ventilation and steady state CO2 sensitivity, 7 healthy premature M. nemestrina were studied serially in the first 3 weeks of life. VE/Kg in room air, 2,3,4, and 5% CO2 was measured via nasal wrongs and hot wire anemometer and arterial gases were sampled in 3 animals after a steady state was attained. Sleep state was assessed from EEG, EOG, EMG and respiratory pattern.
Baseline VE/Kg and VT/Kg increased and f decreased in REM and NREM sleep with increasing postnatal age (p<.05), but there were no differences in VE/Kg between the 2 states at each age. VE/Kg increased following inhalation of CO2 in each state at each postnatal age, but there were no significant differences in CO2 sensitivity between NREM and REM sleep. In NREM sleep CO2 sensitivity increased progressively with increasing postnatal age (p<.025) whereas in REM sleep this maturational increase in slope was not observed (p>.4). The CO2 ventilatory response curve shifted to the left in both states with increasing age.
These results suggest that there is a sleep state specific difference in postnatal maturation of CO2 sensitivity - a progressive increase in NREM sleep and no significant change in REM sleep. Failure of this normal maturational increase in NREM sleep may be important to the pathophysiology of SIDS.
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Guthrie, R., Standaert, T., Hodson, W. et al. 969 SLEEP STATE AND MATURATION OF CO2 SENSITIVITY IN THE PREMATURE PRIMATE. Pediatr Res 12 (Suppl 4), 525 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197804001-00975
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197804001-00975