High vagal tone is associated with more efficient regulation of homeostasis in low-risk human fetuses

Abstract

Homeostasis is maintained primarily by the parasympathetic nervous system and is thought to provide a physiological substrate for the development of complex behaviors. This investigation was undertaken to test the hypothesis that infants with high parasympathetic tone are more efficient regulators of homeostasis than infants with low parasympathetic tone. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was used as a measure of parasympathetic tone, and the efficiency of homeostatic control was quantified, for each infant, by the slope (S(RSA)) and correlation coefficient (R(RSA)) of the regression line relating fluctuations in heart period and fluctuations in RSA. To test our hypothesis, we examined the relationship between RSA and both S(RSA) and R(RSA) in 34 low-risk human fetuses between 36 and 40 weeks gestation. We found that fetuses who were parasympathetic-dominated had larger S(RSA) and R(RSA) values, and hence were more efficient regulators of homeostasis, than fetuses who were sympathetic-dominated. The results of our analyses are important because they establish, very early in development, a physiological basis for the relationship between vagal tone and the development of complex behaviors.