Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow E-Letters: Submit a response to the article
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by GOUDSOUZIAN, N. G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by GOUDSOUZIAN, N. G.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

British Journal of Anaesthesia, 1980, Vol. 52, No. 2 205-214
© 1980 The Board of Management and Trustees of the British Journal of Anaesthesia

research-article

MATURATION OF NEUROMUSCULAR TRANSMISSION IN THE INFANT

N. G. GOUDSOUZIAN, M.D.

Department of Anaesthesia, Harvard Medical School at the Massachusetts General Hospital Boston, Massachusetts 02114, U.S.A.

Twitch tension, train-of-four and tetanus—clinical parameters of neuromuscular transmission— were studied in 37 infants and children anaesthetized with halothane. The contraction time was slower in infants less than 1 month old when compared with their elder counterparts. This may indicate a possible transformation from slow to faster muscle types. The train-of-four reached 100% in most of the infants older than 2 months. The post-tetanic facilitation and the tetanus twitch ratios were significantly greater in infants older than 2 months when compared with infants less than 1 month. Post-tetamc exhaustion was seen in all the infants and children after stimulation at 100 Hz. Tetanus : twitch ratios were greater in infants more than 2 months old and in children, and the tetanic force was more marked at 50 Hz than at 20 Hz. The data indicate that maturation of neuromuscular transmission occurs in infants in and around the first 2 months of age.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.