Trigeminal Airstream Stimulation* Maturation-Related Cardiac and Respiratory Responses during REM Sleep in Human Infants joseph Ramet, M.D. , F.C.C.P.;t jean-Paul Praud, M.D.; Anne-Marie D'Allest, M.D.; Michel Dehan, M.D.; and Claude Gaultier, M.D ., Ph.D.
Thirty-three premature and full-term infants (PCA, 31.5 to 50 weeks) who were free from neurologic and cardiopulmonary disease at the time of testing underwent a standardized TAS test during polygraphically controlled REM sleep. The R-R interval and the TToT were measured before and during TAS. The R-R interval and TToT changes during TAS were compared to the preceding 60-second mean R-R interval and TTOT in each infant and expressed as a percentage of mean control values (ie, % RR and % TTOT). During TAS, there was a significant negative cor-
relation between cardiac and respiratory responses and postconceptional age (prmed to affirm the absence of state-of-alertness changes during the minutes before, during, and just after testing. Airstream stimulation was presented during ten sermed: (I) "(.'()ntrol R-R interval," calculated as the mean R-R interval reT," defined as the mean Tn>T determined from each TTOT ret..,rding durin~ the 60-set..,nd period of undisturbed ··active" (REM) sleep pret.-eding TAS; (2) respiratory variables during TAS: chan~es in TToT durin~ TAS (Tnrr TAS) were calculated either as a decrease in TTOT (shortest Tn>T) or as a prolongation ofTTOT (longest Tn>T). Longest l'roT was defined not only as an increase in expiratory time but also as a "missed breath," (ie, absence of air exchange fi>r a duration equal to
Thirty-three premature and full-term infants (PCA, 31.5 to 50 weeks) who were free from neurologic and cardiopulmonary disease at the time of testing underwent a standardized TAS test during polygraphically controlled REM sleep. The R-R interval and the TToT were measured before and during TAS. The R-R interval and TToT changes during TAS were compared to the preceding 60-second mean R-R interval and TTOT in each infant and expressed as a percentage of mean control values (ie, % RR and % TTOT). During TAS, there was a significant negative cor-
relation between cardiac and respiratory responses and postconceptional age (prmed to affirm the absence of state-of-alertness changes during the minutes before, during, and just after testing. Airstream stimulation was presented during ten sermed: (I) "(.'()ntrol R-R interval," calculated as the mean R-R interval reT," defined as the mean Tn>T determined from each TTOT ret..,rding durin~ the 60-set..,nd period of undisturbed ··active" (REM) sleep pret.-eding TAS; (2) respiratory variables during TAS: chan~es in TToT durin~ TAS (Tnrr TAS) were calculated either as a decrease in TTOT (shortest Tn>T) or as a prolongation ofTTOT (longest Tn>T). Longest l'roT was defined not only as an increase in expiratory time but also as a "missed breath," (ie, absence of air exchange fi>r a duration equal to
