Grant: Operating Grant

Extreme premature babies (those born weighting 500 to 1250g) are exposed to respiratory irregularities after birth manifested by apnea (breathing stop), desaturation (decreasing in arterial oxygen content), and bradycardia (decreasing in heart rate). These events are called in medical term "apnea of prematurity" and disappear with development. However, they need to be treated to provide the most adequate conditions for growth and development. The common therapy for these events is the use of caffeine. Because this drug is not completely efficient to reduce apnea, clinicians are still searching for an adequate alternative. It has been suggested recently that progesterone or CO2 may also be used but we lack information on their efficiency, safety and the best postnatal age to use. Using newborn rats as an animal model, we will study and compare the effects on respiration, heart rate and desaturation of caffeine, progesterone and CO2 at different age during postnatal development. Our objective is to determine the best treatment that could reduce respiratory instabilities in newborn. Also, our results should provide valuable knowledge for the development of new specific pharmacological target to relieve apneas in this extremely fragile population of preterm infants.