The correlation between serotonergic neurons in the brainstem and sleep apnea in SIDS victims.
BACKGROUND
In the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), a medullary serotonergic network deficiency theory has been proposed, amongst many other hypotheses. The correlation between serotonergic neurons or dendritic spines in the brainstem of SIDS and sleep apnea was investigated here.


METHODS
Twenty-seven thousand infants were studied prospectively to characterize their sleep-wake behavior. Of these, 38 infants died under 6 months of age, including 26 cases of SIDS. The frequency and duration of sleep apnea were analyzed. Brainstem material was collected and immunohistochemistry for tryptophan hydroxylase (TrypH) carried out. The density of TrypH-positive neurons was measured quantitatively. Correlation analyses were carried out between the TrypH-associated pathological data and the physiological data of sleep apnea.


RESULTS
One significant positive correlation between the density of TrypH-positive neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus of the midbrain and the duration of central apnea (p=0.027) was found in SIDS victims.


CONCLUSIONS
Some of serotonergic facts could be involved in the pathophysiology of SIDS.
Sawaguchi
Toshiko
T
Department of Legal Medicine, Tokyo Women's Medical University School of Medicine, 8-1 Kawada-cho, Shinjuku, Tokyo 162-8666, Japan. tsawagu@research.twmu.ac.jp
Patricia
Franco
F
Kadhim
Hazim
H
Groswasser
Jose
J
Sottiaux
Martine
M
Nishida
Hiroshi
H
Kahn
Andre
A
D001933:Brain Stem / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D017286:Polysomnography; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012701:Serotonin / Q000378:metabolism*; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013398:Sudden Infant Death / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D016683:Supine Position; D014365:Tryptophan Hydroxylase / Q000378:metabolism
D012701:Serotonin; D014365:Tryptophan Hydroxylase