Article

Pathological data on apoptosis in the brainstem and physiological data on sleep apnea in SIDS victims.

Department of Legal Medicine, Tokyo Women's Medical University School of Medicine, 8-1 Kawada-cho, Shinjuku, Tokyo 162-8666, Japan.
Early Human Development (impact factor: 2.05). 01/2004; 75 Suppl:S13-20. DOI:10.1016/j.pathophys.2004.01.003 pp.S13-20
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT The sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is still the main cause of postneonatal infant death and its cause is still unknown. A chronic hypoxic situation has been shown to exist in the brains of SIDS victims and apoptosis has been demonstrated in hypoxic situations. In this study, the correlation between apoptotic neurons or glias and sleep apnea in SIDS was investigated in the brainstem of SIDS victims.
In a cohort of 27,000 infants studied prospectively to characterize their sleep-wake behavior, 38 infants died under 6 months of age. They included 26 cases of SIDS. The frequency and duration of sleep apnea were analyzed. The brainstem material was collected and terminal-deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL) method was carried out. The density of TUNEL-positive neurons or glias was measured quantitatively. Correlation analyses were carried out between the apoptosis-associated pathological data and the physiological data of sleep apnea.
No significant negative or positive correlation between the density of TUNEL-positive neurons or glias and the characteristics of sleep apnea was observed in SIDS victims. No statistically significant differences associated with apoptotic neurons and glias were observed between SIDS and non-SIDS.
The pathological findings of apoptosis were not in agreement with the hypothesis refer to apnea and arousal phenomenon in pathophysiology of SIDS.

0 0
 · 
0 Bookmarks
 · 
24 Views
Data provided are for informational purposes only. Although carefully collected, accuracy cannot be guaranteed. The impact factor represents a rough estimation of the journal's impact factor and does not reflect the actual current impact factor. Publisher conditions are provided by RoMEO. Differing provisions from the publisher's actual policy or licence agreement may be applicable.

Keywords

38 infants
 
6 months
 
apoptosis-associated pathological data
 
apoptotic neurons
 
arousal phenomenon
 
brainstem material
 
chronic hypoxic situation
 
cohort
 
Correlation analyses
 
hypoxic situations
 
pathological findings
 
positive correlation
 
postneonatal infant death
 
SIDS victims
 
significant negative
 
sleep-wake behavior
 
sudden infant death syndrome
 
terminal-deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling
 
TUNEL
 
TUNEL-positive neurons