Alternations of Biological Features of the Cerebellum in Sudden Perinatal and Infant Death

The article I chose was called “Alternations of Biological Features of the Cerebellum in Sudden Perinatal and Infant Death.” The researchers of this article were Anna Maria Lavezzi, Giulia Ottaviani, Maria Mauri and Luigi Matturri. I chose this article because I wanted to learn more about unexplained syndromes that occur in infants and also because I know of family and friends who have mourned the death of their infants due to this terrible syndrome.

This article focused on two syndromes: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and Sudden Unexplained Perinatal Death (SUPD). SIDS is an unexpected and unexplained death that occurs during the first year of a newborn baby. Statistics have shown that this syndrome occurs in one of 700-1,000 infants. SUPD consisted of two subcategories. The first consisted of Sudden Intrauterine Unexplained Death (SIUD) characterized when the fetus dies after the 25^th gestational week. The second is Sudden Neonatal Unexplained Death (SNUD) which usually occurs when the newborn dies after the first postnatal week. 

The purpose of this research was to investigate the structures and biological patterns in the cerebellum of both fetal and infant death victims. The researchers were mainly focusing on the cortex and deep nuclei in the cerebellum. There were a total of 35 cases: 12 SIUD, 5 SNUD, and 18 SIDS and 20 controlled cases. The ages ranged from the 17^th gestational week to a year old. The researchers investigated three aspects. The first was looking at the structural and biological patterns of the cerebellum. Secondly, determine morpho-functional disorders in the cerebellum with associations to an altered brainstem. Lastly, verify if maternal cigarette smoking could be related to morphological and physiological developmental abnormalities in the cerebellum.

The results included that there were alterations in the cerebellar cortex with regard to SIDS victims. Researchers also found an increase in astrocytes, a decrease in neurons, and abnormalities in the cerebellar dentate with regard to both SUPD and SIDS. Other results included that maternal smoking did have an effect on SUPD and SIDS examined by alterations in the cerebellum which may have contributed to breathing challenges in infants.

Source:

Lavezzi, A.M., Ottaviani, G., Mauri, M., & Matturri, L. (2006). Alternations of biological features of the cerebellum in sudden perinatal and infant death. Curr Mol Medi 6(4), 429-35.