The News:
Haywire brain chemical linked to sudden baby death
By LAURAN NEERGAARD AP Medical Writer
Article Last Updated: 07/03/2008 03:11:28 PM MDT
WASHINGTON—Scientists have new evidence that the brain chemical best known for regulating mood also plays a role in the mystifying killer of seemingly healthy babies—sudden infant death syndrome.
Autopsied brain tissue from SIDS babies first raised suspicion that an imbalance in serotonin might be behind what once was called crib death.
But specialists couldn't figure out how that defect could kill. Now researchers in Italy have engineered mice born with serotonin that goes haywire—and found the brain abnormality is enough to spur sudden death, in ways that mesh with other clues from human babies.
Moreover, the work suggests it might one day be possible to test newborns for their risk of SIDS.
For now, even an animal experiment can offer a message for devastated families:
"It should provide them with some sense of comfort that there was nothing they could have done to prevent it," said Dr. Marian Willinger, a SIDS specialist at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, who wasn't part of the study. "It is a real disease."
The work was published in Friday's edition of the journal Science. Read on...
The Research:
Read the research behind this story in the journal Science.
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