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.
[...]
The work was published in Friday's edition
of the journal Science.

SIDS is the sudden death of an otherwise
healthy infant - anywhere between ages
1 month and 1 year - that can't be attributed
to any other cause. It kills more than 2,000
U.S. infants each year, and is the leading
killer of babies after the newborn period.
[...]
In 2006, Dr. Hannah Kinney of Children's
Hospital Boston compared brain tissue
from 31 SIDS babies and 10 infants who
died of other causes. The SIDS babies
had abnormalities in their brain stem that
led to imbalances in serotonin, a neuro-
transmitter or chemical that helps brain
cells communicate.

Low serotonin famously plays a role in
depression. Less known to laymen is that
it also helps regulate some of the body's
most basic functions - breathing, heart
rate, body temperature, arousal from sleep.

On the Net:  http://www.sciencemag.org
 http://www.nichd.nih.gov/sids
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