Inner ear lesion and the differential roles of hypoxia and hypercarbia in triggering active movements: Potential implication for the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Infants that succumb to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) have been identified with inner ear dysfunction (IED) at birth and on autopsy. We previously investigated whether IED could play a mechanistic role in SIDS. We discovered that animals with IED displayed significant suppression of movement arousal to a hypoxic-hypercarbic gas mixture under light anesthesia.