tor innervation or respiratory muscle function. They include conditions such as amyo-
trophic lateral sclerosis, spinal cord injury , diaphragmatic paralysis, myasthenia gravis,
Lambert-Eaton syndrome, toxic or metabolic myopathies, postpolio syndrome, and Char-
cot-Marie-Tooth syndrome. 
Congenital central alveolar hypoventilation is a genetic disorder at tributable to muta-
tions of PHOX2B,  a gene that is crucial for the de velopment of the embryonic autonomic
nervous system and neural crest derivatives. Children with congenital central alveolar hy-
poventilation show blunted vent ilatory responses to hypercapnia, especially in non–rapid
eye movement sleep.