Sudden Infant Death Syndrome: Altered Aminergic-Cholinergic Synaptic Markers in HypothalamusDepartment of Pathology, University of Kentucky Medical Center, Department of Neurology, University of Kentucky Medical Center, Sanders-Brown Center on Aging University of Kentucky Medical Center, Kentucky Medical Examiner's Program Justice Cabinet, Lexington, KY
Department of Pathology, University of Kentucky Medical Center, Sanders-Brown Center on Aging University of Kentucky Medical Center, Kentucky Medical Examiner's Program Justice Cabinet, Lexington, KY Alterations of sleep are reported to occur in sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). It is well established that the hypothalamus mediates the onset, maintenance, and timing of sleep, and does so via serotonergic and cholinergic mechanisms. We have investigated serotonergic and cholinergic synaptic markers in the hypothalamus from eight SIDS infants and six age-matched non-SIDS infants between 3 and 7 months of age. By use of established methods, we observed a number of chemical alterations in SIDS hypothalamus: (1) tryptophan content was increased and serotonin content was decreased, (2) serotonin binding was increased and imipramine binding was unchanged, (3) monoamine oxidase-A activity was increased without an effect on monoamine oxidase-B, and (4) choline acetyltransferase activity was decreased and acetylcholinesterase activity was unchanged. (J Child Neurol 1991;6:335-339).
Journal of Child Neurology, Vol. 6, No. 4,
335-339 (1991) This article has been cited by other articles:
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