The upper airway and the sudden Infant Death Syndrome

描述（由申请人提供）：尽管最近在预防婴儿猝死综合症方面取得了进展，但在美国，婴儿猝死综合症（SIDS）仍然是导致1个月至1岁婴儿死亡的最常见原因。一项引人注目的流行病学发现是，比预期更多的受害者被发现俯卧，通常脸埋在被褥里。在一些国家，鼓励婴儿仰卧睡觉的运动已经使小岛屿发展中国家的发病率可喜地下降了，然而姿势的影响仍然是个谜。该项目将使用新生断奶仔猪来探索俯卧睡眠的风险是由涉及上呼吸道的反射反应决定的可能性，这些反应可能会因上呼吸道中的二氧化碳（来自再呼吸）、腹侧髓质异常（在一些SIDS受害者中有证据）或体温升高（有流行病学证据和一项有趣的小狗研究报告）而加剧。我们将研究每种情况对三种上呼吸道反射反应的影响：“潜水”反应、喉化疗反射和上呼吸道阻塞的负荷补偿反射反应。我们的一般假设是，一些条件和刺激的组合会夸大呼吸的反射中断，可能有助于SIDS的发病机制。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Despite recent progress in its prevention, the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) remains the most frequent cause of infant mortality between the ages of one month and one year in the United States. A striking epidemiological finding is that more victims than expected are found in the prone position, often with the face in the bedclothes. Campaigns to encourage putting infants to sleep on their backs have led to a gratifying reduction in the incidence of SIDS in several countries, yet the influence of posture remains mysterious. This project will use decerebrate neonatal piglets to explore the possibility that the risk of prone sleeping is determined by reflex responses involving the upper airway, and that these responses may be aggravated by CO2 in the upper airway (from re-breathing), by abnormalities of the ventral medulla (for which there is evidence in some SIDS victims), or from elevated body temperature (for which there is epidemiologic evidence and an intriguing report of a study in puppies). We will examine the influence of each of these conditions on three upper airway reflex responses: the "diving" response, the laryngeal chemo reflex and the load-compensating reflex response to upper airway obstruction. Our general hypothesis is that some combination of conditions and stimuli will exaggerate the reflex interruption of breathing, possibly contributing to the pathogenesis of SIDS.