Pity they don't have a comment section!

[Guest guest]

Chemical imbalance may cause crib death

Reuters

July 07 2008 at 06:52AM

An imbalance of a key brain chemical could cause crib death, researchers

said in what they called a chance discovery.

They created mice whose sudden deaths resembled crib death in humans, and

found that the key may be an out-of-balance self-regulating system

controlling the nerve-signalling chemical serotonin.

Writing in the journal Science, they said they hoped their experiment can

help doctors pinpoint human babies at high risk of Sudden Infant Death

Syndrome (Sids), also known as cot death.

" At first sight the mice were normal, " said Cornelius Gross of the European

Molecular Biology Laboratory in Italy, who led the study.

" But then they suffered sporadic and unpredictable drops in heart rate and

body temperature. More than half of the mice eventually died of these crises

during a restricted period of early life. It was at that point that we

thought it might have something to do with Sids. "

Sids is a leading cause of death in babies under a year old in the developed

world, yet its root cause remains a mystery.

Even healthy-looking infants can die in less than an hour. Smoking around

infants and during pregnancy also seems to be linked to Sids, and campaigns

to put babies to sleep on their backs instead of prone reduced crib death

rates in several countries. Cautioning parents about overheated rooms and

minimising bedding that could cause suffocation also may have reduced rates,

but Sids still kills one in every 2 000 babies globally.

" Ultimately, we hope it will give new ideas to doctors about how to diagnose

babies at risk for Sids, " said Enrica Audero, a researcher who worked on the

study.

In May, British scientists said they had pinpointed two common bacteria that

may contribute to crib deaths, even when infants show no sign of tissue

damage.

Gross said his team was studying the brain chemical's relationship to

anxiety and aggression before they realised their results might have

something to do with crib death.

Genetically-engineered mice, whose self-regulating serotonin system was

turned off did not die, showing it was worse to have a malfunctioning system

than no system at all, he added.

Serotonin neurons in the brainstem - part of the brain that controls

breathing and other unconscious functions - do not work properly in

gene-engineered mice.

Gross's team found that the mice died suddenly after failing to activate key

brain functions, including the regulation of body temperature and heart

rate.

While the researchers said it is unlikely the molecular mechanism is the

same in humans, they believe their findings may one day help identify babies

at greatest risk.

[Guest guest]

Chemical imbalance may cause crib death

Reuters

July 07 2008 at 06:52AM

An imbalance of a key brain chemical could cause crib death, researchers

said in what they called a chance discovery.

They created mice whose sudden deaths resembled crib death in humans, and

found that the key may be an out-of-balance self-regulating system

controlling the nerve-signalling chemical serotonin.

Writing in the journal Science, they said they hoped their experiment can

help doctors pinpoint human babies at high risk of Sudden Infant Death

Syndrome (Sids), also known as cot death.

" At first sight the mice were normal, " said Cornelius Gross of the European

Molecular Biology Laboratory in Italy, who led the study.

" But then they suffered sporadic and unpredictable drops in heart rate and

body temperature. More than half of the mice eventually died of these crises

during a restricted period of early life. It was at that point that we

thought it might have something to do with Sids. "

Sids is a leading cause of death in babies under a year old in the developed

world, yet its root cause remains a mystery.

Even healthy-looking infants can die in less than an hour. Smoking around

infants and during pregnancy also seems to be linked to Sids, and campaigns

to put babies to sleep on their backs instead of prone reduced crib death

rates in several countries. Cautioning parents about overheated rooms and

minimising bedding that could cause suffocation also may have reduced rates,

but Sids still kills one in every 2 000 babies globally.

" Ultimately, we hope it will give new ideas to doctors about how to diagnose

babies at risk for Sids, " said Enrica Audero, a researcher who worked on the

study.

In May, British scientists said they had pinpointed two common bacteria that

may contribute to crib deaths, even when infants show no sign of tissue

damage.

Gross said his team was studying the brain chemical's relationship to

anxiety and aggression before they realised their results might have

something to do with crib death.

Genetically-engineered mice, whose self-regulating serotonin system was

turned off did not die, showing it was worse to have a malfunctioning system

than no system at all, he added.

Serotonin neurons in the brainstem - part of the brain that controls

breathing and other unconscious functions - do not work properly in

gene-engineered mice.

Gross's team found that the mice died suddenly after failing to activate key

brain functions, including the regulation of body temperature and heart

rate.

While the researchers said it is unlikely the molecular mechanism is the

same in humans, they believe their findings may one day help identify babies

at greatest risk.