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Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) is the most common cause of epilepsy related mortality and animal models have collectively helped elucidate SUDEP causes and mechanisms. The chapter aims to serve as general resource and a summary of the current state of monitoring approaches commonly used in animals engineered or manipulated to model physiological processes relevant to SUDEP. One has to bear in mind that there are many variations of methods aimed at measuring and analyzing cortical, cardio-autonomic, and respiratory activities and the approach is typically driven by the research questions, type of animal model type, as well as by cost, availability or access to a specialized experimental set up.

Breathing is perhaps the physiological function that is most vital to human survival. Without breathing and adequate oxygenation of tissues, life ceases. As would be expected for such a vital function, breathing occurs automatically, without the requirement of conscious input. Breathing is subject to regulation by a variety of factors including circadian rhythms and vigilance state. Given the need for breathing to occur continuously with little tolerance for interruption, it is not surprising that breathing is subject to both circadian phase-dependent and vigilance-state-dependent regulation. Similarly, the information regarding respiratory state, including blood-gas concentrations, can affect circadian timing and sleep-wake state. The exact nature of the interactions between breathing, circadian phase, and vigilance state can vary depending upon the species studied and the methodologies employed. These interactions between breathing, circadian phase, and vigilance state may have important implications for a variety of human diseases, including sleep apnea, asthma, sudden unexpected death in epilepsy, and sudden infant death syndrome.