2008
SIDS Clue Found
Could the silent killer in babies, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), be caused by an imbalance of serotonin in the brain? New research in mice has pointed to this new clue, where imbalanced serotonin, a chemical mainly known to balance one’s mood, has lead to death in mice.
The new study, conducted by the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, has indicated that serotonin may lend clues to the cause of SIDS. During the study, Cornelius Gross, Ph.D., and others used engineered mice, with very low serotonin levels, and found that the changes in the brain could result in death. Over half of the mice used during the study, suddenly died before they were 3 months old. Before they died, many experienced erratic episodes of their heart rate dropping, and within 10 minutes their body temperature also dropped. Gross reported that the mice would either die during these episodes or afterward. While researchers caution that the exact defects in the mice are not the same as those in babies, the heart and temperature problems in the mice were similar to the problems found in the babies studied in the limited research, noted Dr. Marian Willinger, of Children’s Hospital Boston.
Serotonin plays an important role in depression, anger, the regulation of body temperature, breathing, a person’s disposition, arousal from sleep, sexuality, appetite, heart rate, and can cause vomiting. While the new study isn’t the first to point to serotonin as a link to the cause of SIDS, thus study helps to show that researchers are on the right track for possible causes, cures and treatments.