Determination of ventilatory pattern in REM sleep in normal infants

Using methods that we devised for detecting and counting eye movements on the electrooculogram (EOG), we studied tidal volume (VT) and total respiratory cycle time (Ttot) as a function of the frequency of rapid eye movements (REM) during REM sleep in nine normal infants at 1 mo of age. In each of the nine infants, the mean VT and mean Ttot decreased with increasing frequency of eye movements. Instantaneous minute ventilation (VT/Ttot or V), however, did not change with the frequency of eye movements. In addition, there was no consistent change in the variability of VT, Ttot, or V when studied as a function of the frequency of eye movements. Our data support the notion that the ventilatory pattern in REM sleep depends in part on mechanisms that are inherent to REM sleep.