Relationship of substance P and gliosis in medulla oblongata in neonatal sudden infant death syndrome.
Substance P and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunohistochemistry was applied to the medulla of neonatal infants who died of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). A quantitative analysis of cells demonstrating immunoreactivity to GFAP and substance P in 15 neonatal SIDS cases revealed increased GFAP immunoreactivity in the reticular formation, the dorsal vagal nucleus, and the solitary nucleus and an increase in substance P immunoreactivity in the spinal trigeminal nucleus and the solitary nucleus as compared with that in age-matched controls. GFAP immunopositivity suggests astrogliosis which implies a pathologic insult to neurons in the area of astrogliosis. The failure of neurons in these sites to show enhanced substance P immunopositivity may indirectly indicate altered neurons. Further study of prenatal events may be of importance in clarifying the pathogenesis of neonatal SIDS.
Department of Mental Retardation and Birth Defect Research, National Institute of Neuroscience, Tokyo, Japan.
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T
Obonai
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S
Takashima
L E
LE
Becker
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M
Asanuma
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Mizuta
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Horie
J
J
Tanaka
D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D005911:Gliosis / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008526:Medulla Oblongata / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D013373:Substance P / Q000378:metabolism*; D013398:Sudden Infant Death / Q000473:pathology*
D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D013373:Substance P