Twenty-one small for date newborn infants of toxemic mothers were compared as to their neurological maturation with an equal number of normal neonates matched for both age from conception and from birth. The following parameters were studied: nerve conduction velocity (degree of myclinization), EEG sleep patterns including their computer analysis (development of the cerebral cortext), sleep cycles (behavioral maturation) and electromyographic evaluation of motor activity (excitatory state of spinal motoneurones). Even in severely malnourshed infants peripheral nerve myclinization was found to be normal for age whereas the EEG sleep pattern development was sometimes remarkably retarded and or abnormal. In severely abnormal infants the development was sometimes remarkably retarded and or abnormal. In severely abnormal infants the development of bioelectrical coherence, i.e., a linear correlation of activity between corresponding cortical areas, was markedly disturbed. The spinal motoneurone excitability was found to be lower than normal with a greater variance. The abnormal neurophysiological findings were related to the severity of the maternal nephropathy but no significant correlation could be detected to postnatal blood glucose values of the infants.
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