Cerebral c-jun expression mapping in sudden infant death syndrome.
Despite a decline in the overall rate of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), it remains the leading cause of postneonatal infant mortality. Research into underlying mechanisms of SIDS has still not yielded a morphological, histopathological correlate explaining aetiology and pathophysiology of an infant's sudden death. Of particular interest would be elucidating pathophysiological and molecular events immediately preceding the infant's sudden death. C-jun is an immediate early gene with a physiological role in orchestrating cellular responses following injury including a role in cell death. It is also one of the earliest and most consistent markers for neurons undergoing stress, degeneration and survival. We investigated the immunohistochemical expression of the acute phase protein c-jun within 47 separate cerebral regions of interest in the brains of 23 SIDS and 7 control cases for evidence of acute neuronal injury immediately preceding sudden death and to assess the distribution of cellular damage suggestive of pathophysiologically sensitive or critical cerebral regions. Dividing SIDS-cases and controls into subgroups with (1) no neuronal expression of c-jun at all or (2) some c-jun expression, a statistically significant higher c-jun expression for SIDS compared with control cases was established for the inferior colliculi ( P=0.008), the spinal trigeminal nuclei ( P=0.046) and the premotoric cortex layers II and IV ( P=0.029). The increased expression of c-jun in these areas might be directly related to the pathogenesis of sudden death, or may represent a secondary marker of neuronal injury with the primary event/injury being elsewhere in critical cardioventilatory circuits.
Rickert
Christian H
CH
Institute of Neuropathology, University Hospital Münster, Domagkstrasse 19, 48149 Münster, Germany. rickchr@uni-muenster.de
Zahiragić
Lejla
L
Nolte
Kay W
KW
Bajanowski
Thomas
T
Brinkmann
Bernd
B
Paulus
Werner
W
D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D016755:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-jun / Q000378:metabolism*; D013398:Sudden Infant Death / Q000473:pathology*
D016755:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-jun