Ontogeny of EEG-sleep from neonatal through infancy periods.

Serial neonatal and infant electroencephalographic (EEG)-polysomnographic studies document the ontogeny of cerebral and noncerebral physiologic behaviors based on visual inspection or computer analyses. EEG patterns and their relationship to other physiologic signals serve as templates for normal brain organization and maturation, subserving multiple interconnected neuronal networks. Interpretation of serial EEG-sleep patterns also helps track the continuity of brain functions from intrauterine to extrauterine time periods. Recognition of the ontogeny of behavioral and electrographic patterns provides insight into the developmental neurophysiological expression of neural plasticity. Sleep ontogenesis from neonatal and infancy periods documents expected patterns of postnatal brain maturation, which allows for alterations from genetically programmed neuronal processes under stressful and/or pathological conditions. Automated analyses of cerebral and noncerebral signals provide time- and frequency-dependent computational phenotypes of brain organization and maturation in healthy or diseased states. Research pertaining to the developmental origins of health and disease can use these computational phenotypes to design longitudinal studies for the assessment of gene-environment interactions. Computational strategies may ultimately improve our diagnostic skills to identify special-needs children and to track the neurorehabilitative care of the high-risk fetus, neonate, and infant.