FINDINGS: Several unexpected regions in the healthy children's brains responded to the gases – particularly in sites that perceive and react to the sensation of breathlessness during suffocation. The same regions in CCHS children's brains responded poorly or not at all. This may explain why the children do not struggle to breathe when their lungs shut down -- even after turning blue from lack of air.
IMPACT: The findings suggest that the irregular brain mechanisms provoking CCHS may also underlie sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Children afflicted by the two conditions share many of the same symptoms and health problems.
AUTHORS: Ronald Harper, Ph.D., professor of neurobiology, and Paul Macey, Ph.D., neurobiology postdoctoral researcher, at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, are available for interviews.
JOURNALS: Journal of Neurophysiology, Nov. 3, 2004, "Hypoventilation reveals central nervous system respiratory control mechanisms" http://jn.physiology.org/papbyrecent.shtml
Journal of Applied Physiology, Nov. 5, 2004, "Hypoxia reveals posterior thalamic, cerebellar, midbrain and limbic deficits in congenital central hypoventilation syndrome" http://jap.physiology.org/papbyrecent.shtml
Journal of Applied Physiology