[Neurologic status of the human fetus during labor and analysis from an evolutionary standpoint]

A study of the human fetus in 62 deliveries (at the moment of head birth and in the first seconds after complete birth up to the onset of pulmonary respiration) revealed that its neurologic status is characterized by muscular atonia, by the absence of spontaneous movements, proprioceptive and exteroceptive reflexes, as well as by the absence of reactions to needle puncture, light, sound and olfactory irritations. The suggestion is substantiated that phenomenal peculiarities of the neurologic status of the fetus during parturition are occasioned by the state of hibernation (autohibernation) secondary to shifts at the level of biologically active substances in the "parturient-placenta-fetus" system.