The amount of brainstem gliosis in sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) victims correlates with maternal cigarette smoking during pregnancy

Abstract

Storm H, Nylander G, Saugstad OD. The amount of brainstem gliosis in sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) victims correlates with maternal cigarette smoking during pregnancy. Acta Paediatr 1999; 88: 13-8. Stockholm. ISSN 0803-5253Brainstem gliosis is elevated in some SIDS victims and has been associated with hypoxicischaemic events. Factors which increase the risk of SIDS include possible risk factors for hypoxic-ischaemic events during foetal and perinatal life. In this study a scoring system was developed whereby possible risk factors for hypoxic-ischaemic events during pregnancy, birth and in the perinatal period were correlated with the level of gliosis in the nucleus olivaris inferior in SIDS victims (n = 19). The mothers' antenatal care and obstetric records and the SIDS infants' perinatal hospital records were investigated, and each possible risk factor for hypoxic-ischaemic events was given one point. The points were summarized for each infant, and this sum was correlated with the level of gliosis in the infant's nucleus olivaris inferior. The number of cigarettes the mothers smoked during pregnancy was also compared with the level of gliosis. Our results show that in SIDS victims there is 41% probability that the more the mothers smoked during pregnancy, the more gliosis in the nucleus olivaris inferior is found in their infants (p`0.01). Gliosis in the nucleus olivaris inferior also correlated with the possible risk factors for hypoxic-ischaemic events during pregnancy, birth and the perinatal period (r 2 = 0.28, p`0.05). However, if cigarette smoking was excluded as a possible hypoxic-ischaemic risk factor, no correlation was found. & Brainstem gliosis, cigarette smoking, hypoxia, ischaemia, sudden infant death syndrome H Storm,

Prenatal to Early Postnatal Nicotine Exposure Impairs Central Chemoreception and Modifies Breathing Pattern in Mouse Neonates: A Probable Link to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

“…Our results therefore indicate that neuronal damage is not a major mechanism in the pathogenic pathway linking nicotine to central respiratory dysfunction. They also suggest that brainstem gliosis observed in SIDS patients (Storm et al, 1999;Sawaguchi et al, 2003), showing threefold or even higher increase on GFAP labeling, might not be related directly to a cytotoxic effect of nicotine upon the respiratory network, but rather to the presence of other factors like chronic hypoxic-ischemic events.…”

Sudden infant death triggered by dive reflex

“…15 Storm et al found an increase in brainstem reactive astrogliosis, mainly in the inferior olivary nucleus, in perinatal and SIDS victims prenatally exposed to cigarette smoke. 16 We have recently shown a significantly increased incidence of cytoarchitectural alterations of the arcuate nucleus in stillborns and in SIDS victims with mothers who smoke compared with those whose mothers do not smoke. We found, in both stillborns and infants, a wide variety of structural defects of the arcuate nucleus, ranging from neuronal immaturity in a well shaped structure to total agenesis.…”

Permanent, Sex-Selective Effects of Prenatal or Adolescent Nicotine Exposure, Separately or Sequentially, in Rat Brain Regions: Indices of Cholinergic and Serotonergic Synaptic Function, Cell Signaling, and Neural Cell Number and Size at 6 Months of Age

“…Nevertheless, the number of neural cells eventually recovers and even becomes supranormal, with an elevated cell-packing density, largely because of reactive gliosis (Abdel-Rahman et al, 2003, 2004Sabherwal, 1994, 1998;Roy et al, 2002); the same phenomenon occurs in the brains of children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy (Storm et al, 1999). Accordingly, by adolescence, many of the biochemical features of neuronal loss are absent, although detailed morphological examination reveals the underlying imbalances in neuron/glia ratios and in the density of the neuropil Sabherwal, 1994, 1998;Roy et al, 2002).…”