Arousal response to hypoxia in newborn mice

We examined the arousal response to 5% O₂ in newborn mice at several ages before and after peripheral chemoreceptor resetting, namely, at 3, 12, and 48 h (n=22 in each group). Breathing was measured by whole-body flow barometric plethysmography. Sleep and arousal were determined behaviourally. We found that: (1) the arousal response was present in all age groups; (2) the arousal response occurred during the hypoxic ventilatory decline in all age groups, showing that mechanoreceptor input was not sufficient to trigger arousal; and (3) arousal latency was shorter after than before chemoreceptor resetting, suggesting a contribution of chemoreceptors to arousal. We conclude that arousal may contribute to the hypoxic ventilatory response in the early postnatal period in mice and that it should be taken into consideration in studies of ventilatory control maturation in newborns.