To document general health, we determined 16 parameters, including, e.g. body weight, coat condition, motoric abilities, reflexes, reactivity to handling, spontaneous behaviours and olfaction (for the full list of tests and results, see Table 1); we found no differences between genotypes in any of these parameters.
ANS function was assessed using standardized tests of resting CV (tilt-table, respiratory sinus arrhythmia and Valsalva maneuver) and sudomotor (quantitative sudomotor axon reflex test) reactivity.
A possible explanation may be the fact that the cremasteric reflex peaks in reactivity between age 5 and 8 [ 49].
The baby presented no sucking reflex, a very weak reactivity to external stimuli, reduced muscle tone, especially in the head - shoulder line and weakened tendon reflexes.
Acoustic startle reactivity with reflex modified inhibition by prepulse stimulation (ASR-PPI) was measured in four identical SR Lab test chambers (San Diego Instruments, San Diego, CA).
As known, cutaneous microvascular reactivity (namely, thermoregulatory reflex) is essential to maintain the human core temperature during challenges to thermal hemostasis [ 34, 35].
Specifically, we assessed two event-related potentials thought to index cognitive control processes – the error-related negativity (ERN) and error positivity (Pe) – measured across two tasks, and two markers of defensive reactivity processes – startle reflex and resting parietal asymmetry – in a sample of 3- to 7-year old children.
However, few data are available about changes in these reflexes over time and the reactivity of constricted pupils or reaction to corneal stimulation may be difficult to assess reliably and can also be altered by deep sedation.
According to the majority of publications, this phenomenon forms the basis for complex interactions present in CoAo functional abnormalities in vascular reactivity and baroreceptor-reflex function, as well as irreversible arterial remodeling all leading to hypertension in the studied population [ 3, 5, 21].
The cold stress, based on the simple reflex, reflects the general neuro-vascular reactivity rather than the contribution of the other components of the cold stress [48].
