BODY-TEMPERATURE REGULATION IN THE NEWBORN-INFANT - INTERACTION WITH SLEEP AND CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

Thermoregulation in newborn infant differs from that of adult. Compari sons between sleep stages show that, during rapid eye movements (REM) sleep, the impairment of thermoregulatory responses in adult is not ob served in newborn. Both behavioral and autonomic temperature regulatio ns are always operative in the range of air temperatures usually impos ed. The interaction between sleep and thermoregulation seems to be les s important in newborns than in adults, suggesting that sleep processe s are well protected, reducing the probability of occurrence of centra l dysfunction. According to the model describing thermoregulation duri ng sleep on the basis of changes in the hierarchical dominance of brai n structures, either the influence of diencephalic structures is never depressed in REM sleep or the functional autonomy of the rhombencepha lon is still relevant in the immature encephalon of the newborn. The t hermoregulatory model also allows understanding of inter-individual di fferences in thermoregulation and levels of thermoneutrality. An attem pt has also been made to learn the role of heat stroke in the producti on of sudden infant death syndrome when body heat loss is hampered.