Sudden Infant Death Syndrome: New Clue Baby Mice Die When Brain
Serotonin Levels Go Haywire July 3, 2008 -- A new clue to the
cause of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) comes from baby
mice that suddenly die when their brain serotonin levels go
haywire. Serotonin is a signaling chemical that has far-reaching
effects in the brain and other organs. But while too much or too
little serotonin can cause many kinds of problems, death wasn't
supposed to be one of them. Until now. Cornelius Gross, PhD, and
colleagues at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory near
Rome genetically engineered mice to have abnormally low levels
of serotonin. They didn't think this would kill the mice. After
all, genetically engineered mice with no serotonin at all manage
to survive. But Gross' team was amazed to see that many of their
mice did indeed die -- at an early age roughly equivalent to the
age range at which human infants succumb to SIDS -- 1 month to 1
year old. "The similarity to SIDS is there is sudden death
during a re