Maturational Changes in EEG Patterns During Sleep in Normal Newborn Infants

Abstract

Serial investigations were planned in an attempt to establish a developmental pattern in the EEG of normal children.
As a part of this investigation EEGs were taken on 157 neonates and analyzed on each subject.
All subjects had normal prenatal and birth histories and normal neonatal developments. Their ages ranged from one day to one month. Their birth weights were between 2900 and 3600 Gm.
A characteristic sleep pattern of newborn EEG, “tracè alternant”, was observed. This pattern is characterized by (1) progressive changes from premature type into bilateral synchronous type during the first month of age and (2) its complete disappearance by the end of the first month.
The tracè alternant was analyzed as to the morphology and periodicity of the burst -suppression pattern. The similarity of the periodicity between “tracè alternant” and the “hypsarhythmia” was noted. We postulate that the tracè alternant originates from subcortical areas and that its presence suggests functional immaturity of cortico-subcortical connection of the brain.