http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=bf6064b9-9468-44dd-9bd1
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 Wednesday > November 1 > 2006 
  
Brain stem defect tied to SIDS
Chemical imbalance; Study 'should take the guilt away from parents'
  
 
AP 
http://www.nichd.nih.gov/news/releases/sids_serotonin.cfm


Wednesday, November 01, 2006


In a small study with big implications, researchers found some of the strongest
evidence yet that sudden infant death syndrome - a medical and sometimes legal
mystery once known as crib death - might be caused by brain stem abnormalities.

The finding "takes the mystery away from SIDS," said Marian Willinger, a SIDS
researcher at the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development,
which funded the study. "It should take the guilt away from any parent who has
lost a baby because they always wonder: 'What did I do wrong?' Now, they need to
really understand, 'My baby had a disease.' ''

The brain stem abnormalities involve an imbalance in the way the brain uses the
neurotransmitter serotonin. The brain chemical plays a role in regulating mood
and is the target for many depression-fighting drugs. But it also influences
breathing, body temperature and arousal from sleep.

These functions are thought to go haywire when susceptible babies are exposed to
certain risks, such as sleeping on their bellies, which is a leading contributor
to SIDS.

The researchers studied autopsied brain tissue from 31 SIDS babies and 10
infants who died of other causes. SIDS babies had about double the number of
nerve cells displaying serotonin defects.

Right now, the defects cannot be detected until after death. The researchers
hope their work leads to a diagnostic test that could identify infants at risk
and allow parents to take precautions.

That will probably take at least 10 years, but the study results show the
research appears to be headed in the right direction, said Hannah Kinney, a
co-author and prominent SIDS researcher at Children's Hospital Boston.

The study was published in today's Journal of the American Medical Association.

C The Gazette (Montreal) 2006
 




 
 
 
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