Peripheral Innervation in Children With Global Developmental Delay: Biomarker for Risk for Self-Injurious Behavior?
The relation between somatosensory mechanisms and self-injury among children with neurologic impairments associated with developmental delay is not well understood. We evaluated the feasibility of procuring skin biopsies to examine epidermal nerve fiber density and reported self-injury. Following informed parental consent, epidermal skin biopsies were obtained from a distal leg site with no pre-existing skin damage from 11 children with global developmental delay (55% male; mean age = 36.8 months, 17-63 months). Visual microscopic examination and quantitative analyses showed extremely high epidermal nerve fiber density values for some children. Children with reported self-injury (5/11) had significantly (P < .02) greater density values (138.8, standard deviation = 45.5) than children without self-injury (80.5, standard deviation = 17.5). Results from this novel immunohistologic analysis of skin in very young children with neurodevelopmental delays suggest it may be a useful tool to study peripheral innervation as a possible sensory risk factor for self-injury.
Department of Educational Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA symon007@umn.edu.
Frank J
FJ
Symons
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
Raymond C
RC
Tervo
Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare, St. Paul, MN, USA.
Chantel C
CC
Barney
Department of Educational Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
John
J
Damerow
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Mona
M
Selim
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Brian
B
McAdams
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Shawn
S
Foster
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Gwen
G
Wendelschafer Crabb
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
William
W
Kennedy
D015415:Biomarkers; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D012306:Risk; D012307:Risk Factors; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D012867:Skin / Q000294:innervation* / Q000473:pathology*
D015415:Biomarkers
developmental delay; peripheral innervation; risk; self-injury; sensory