ABSTRACT:Chemoreception is frequently involved in the processes underlying apnea in premature infants. Apnea could result from a decrease in carotid body effectiveness. However, increased carotid body activity could also initiate apnea through hypocapnia following hyperventilation when the receptors are stimulated. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between carotid body effectiveness and short apneic episodes in older preterm neonates. Carotid body effectiveness was assessed at thermoneutrality in 36 premature neonates (2.07 Ϯ 0.26 kg) by performing a 30-s hyperoxic test during sleep, the oxygen inhalation involving a ventilation decrease. Blood O 2 saturation (Sp O2 ) and ventilatory parameters were monitored before and during the hyperoxic test. Short episodes of apnea (frequency and mean duration) were recorded during the morning's 3-h interfeeding interval. Pretest Sp O2 was not related to any of the measured respiratory parameters. A higher frequency of short apneic episodes was linked to a greater ventilation decrease in response to the hyperoxic test ( ϭ Ϫ0.32; p ϭ 0.01). Increased carotid body response is correlated with greater apneic episodes frequency, even in the absence of concomitant oxygen desaturation. Fetal or early postnatal hypoxemia could have increased peripheral chemoreceptor activity, which could initiate a "overshoot/ undershoot" situation, which in turn could induce a critical P O2 /P CO2 combination and apnea. (Pediatr Res 62: 591-596, 2007) S hort apneic episodes [defined as a respiratory pause of at least 3 s (1,2)] are common respiratory events in premature neonates, with an incidence of 25% in infants weighing Ͻ2500 g at birth and 84% in those weighing Ͻ1000 g (3).After birth, apnea frequency decreases progressively once chemoreception control is sufficiently developed to initiate the appropriate ventilatory responses to changes in arterial blood gas status (3-6). Chemoreception control is carried out by central and peripheral chemoreceptors that differ in their anatomical location and type of stimulation: peripheral chemoreceptors (mainly carotid bodies) are sensitive to variations in the levels of O 2 and (to a lesser extent) CO 2 , whereas central chemoreceptors are especially sensitive to variations in CO 2 and pH.It is accepted that abnormal functioning of the peripheral chemoreceptors can promote apnea even though the mechanism underlying this altered chemoreceptor activity is still subject to much debate. Provision of oxygen to infants suffering from bronchopulmonary dysplasia delays the peripheral chemoreceptor response and might induce more apnea (7). In preterm neonates, an increase in the chemoreceptor gain during the postnatal period has also been suggested. The latter can initiate an "overshoot/undershoot" situation: the apnea results from a central depression in inspiratory motor drive, which is mainly due to hypocapnia. This concept has been described in adult dogs to explain periodic breathing (8) and extended to the newborn lamb (9), but physiolog...