Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-lrblm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-15T00:48:12.971Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Vagal Nerve Complex in Normal Development and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

L.E. Becker  and
W. Zhang
L.E. Becker*
Affiliation:
Department of Pathology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto
W. Zhang
Affiliation:
Department of Pathology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto
*
Department of Pathology, The Hospital for Sick Children, 555 Uniersity Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 1X8
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.
Background:

Although the pathogenesis of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is not understood, one of the major hypotheses is that a subtle defect in respiratory circuitry is an important underlying factor. The vagus nerve is a critical component of respiratory control, but its neuroanatomic complexity has limited its investigation in human disease.

Methods:

Correlating developmental studies on different parts of the vagus nerve allows a more comprehensive assessment of its maturation process. Comparison of the normal developing vagus nerve with nerves examined in SIDS patients suggests alterations in the nucleus tractus solitarius and dorsal vagal nucleus as well as in the peripheral vagus nerve.

Results and Conclusions:

The persistence of dendritic spines and lack of appropriate axonal growth implies delays in vagal maturation. Since nodose ganglia can be examined in vitro from autopsy material, perturbation to this system can be explored to evaluate further the mechanism involved in terminal vagal maturation. Although the reason for the delayed vagal maturation in SIDS is not apparent, the presence of astrogliosis in the region of the vagal nuclei is consistent with an exposure to hypoxic-ischemic events some time before death.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , February 1996 , pp. 24 - 33
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation 1996

References

1.Becker, LE.Neural maturational delay as a link in the chain of events leading to SIDS. Can J Neurol Sci 1990; 17: 361–371.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2.Feldman, JL, McCrimmon, DR, Smith, JC, Ellenberger, HH, Speck, DF.Respiratory pattern generation in mammals. In: von Euler, C, Langercrantz, H, eds. Neurobiology of the Control of Breathing. New York: Raven Press, 1986: 157–164.Google Scholar
3.Becker, LE, Zhang, W, Pereyra, PM.Delayed maturation of the vagus nerve in sudden infant death syndrome. Acta Neuropathol (Berl) 1993; 86: 617–622.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4.Bruce, K, Becker, LE.Quantitation of medullary astrogliosis in sudden infant death syndrome. Pediatr Neurosurg 1991–92; 17: 74–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Lack, EE.Hyperplasia of vagal and carotid body paraganglia in patients with chronic hypoxemia. Am J Pathol 1978; 91: 497–516.Google ScholarPubMed
6.Pereyra, PM, Zhang, W, Schmidt, M, Becker, LE.Development of myelinated and unmyelinated fibers of human vagus nerve during the first year of life. J Neurol Sci 1992; 10: 107–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Quatlrochi, JJ, McBride, PT, Yates, AAJ.Brainstem immaturity in sudden infant death syndrome: a quantitative rapid Golgi study of dendritic spines in 95 infants. Brain Res 1985; 325: 39–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8.Sachis, PN, Armstrong, DL, Becker, LE, Bryan, AC.The vagus nerve and sudden infant death syndrome: a morphometric study. J Pediatr 1981; 98: 278–280.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9.Sachis, PN, Armstrong, DL, Becker, LE, Bryan, AC.Myelination of the human vagus nerve from 24 weeks postconceptional age to adolescence. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 1982; 41: 466–472.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
10.Takashima, S, Becker, LE.Developmental abnormalities of medullar “respiratory centres” in sudden infant death syndrome. Exp Neurol 1985; 90: 580–587.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Takashima, S, Becker, LE.Delayed dendritic development of chatecholaminergic neurons in the ventrolateral medulla of children who died of sudden infant death syndrome. Neuropediatrics 1991; 22: 97–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12.Takashima, S, Armstrong, D, Becker, L, Bryan, C.Cerebral hypoperfusion in the sudden infant death syndrome? Brainstem gliosis and vasculature. Ann Neurol 1978; 4: 257–262.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
13.Takashima, S, Mito, T, Becker, LE.Neuronal development in the medullary reticular formation in sudden infant death syndrome and premature infants. Neuropediatrics 1985; 16: 76–79.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
14.Willinger, M, James, LS, Catz, C.Defining the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Deliberation of an expert panel convened by the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development. Pediatr Pathol 1991; 11: 677–684.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15.Olszewski, J, Baxter, D.Cytoarchitecture of the Human Brain Stem, 2nd ed. Basal: Karger, 1982.Google Scholar
16.Guo, Y-P, McLeod, JG, Baverstock, J.Pathological changes in the vagus nerve in diabetes and chronic alcholism. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1987; 50: 1449–1453.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Daly, M de B, Evans, DHL.Functional and histological changes in the vagus nerve of the cat after degenerative section at various levels. J Physiol 1953; 120: 579–595.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
18.De Neef, KJ.Jansen, JR, Versprille, A.Developmental morphology and physiology of rabbit vagus nerve. Brain Res 1982; 256: 265–274.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
19.Schafer, K, Friede, RL.The onset and rate of myelination in six peripheral and autonomic nerve of the rat. J Anat 1988; 159: 181–195.Google ScholarPubMed
20.Hasan, SU, Samat, HB, Auer, RN.Vagal nerve maturation in the fetal lamb: an ultrastructural and morphometric study. Anat Rec 1993; 237: 527–537.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21.Naeye, RL, Ladis, D, Drage, JS.Sudden infant death syndrome: a prospective study. Am J Dis Child 1976; 130: 1207–1210.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
22.Becker, LE.Neuropathological basis for respiratory dysfunction in sudden infant death syndrome. In: Tildon, JT.Roedor, LM, Steinschneider, A, eds. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. New York: Academic Press, 1983: 99–114.Google Scholar
23.Becker, LE, Takashima, S.Chronic hypoventilation and development of brainstem gliosis. Neuropediatrics 1985; 16: 19–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
24.Ambler, MW, Neave, C, Stumer, WQ.Sudden and unexpected death in infancy and childhood: neuropathologic findings. Am J Forensic Med Pathol 1981; 2: 23–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
25.Kinney, HC, Burger, PC, Harrell, FE Jr. Hudson, RP Jr. ‘Reactive gliosis’ in the medullar oblongata of victims of the sudden infant death syndrome. Pediatrics 1983; 72: 181–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
26.Summers, CG, Parker, JC Jr. The brain stem in sudden infant death syndrome: a postmortem survey. Am J Forensic Med Pathol 1981; 2: 121–127.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
27.Pearson, J, Brandéis, L.Normal aspects of morphometry of brainstem astrocytes, carotid bodies, and ganglia in SIDS. In: Tildon, JT, Roeder, LM, Steinschneider, A, eds. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. New York: Academic Press, 1983: 115–122.Google Scholar
28.Mei, N, Condamin, M, Boyer, A.The composition of the vagus nerve of the cat. Cell Tissue Res 1980; 209: 423–431.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
29.Helke, CJ, Hill, KM.Immunohistochemical study of neuropeptides in vagal and glossopharyngeal afferent neurons in the rat. Neuroscience 1988; 26: 539–551.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
30.Helke, CJ, Niederer, AJ.Studies in the coexistence of substance P with other putative transmitters in the nodose and petrosal ganglia. Synapse 1990; 5: 144–151.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
31.MacLean, DB, Bennett, B, Morris, M, Wheeler, FB.Differential regulation of calcitonin gene-related peptide and substance P in cultured neonatal rat vagal sensory neurons. Brain Res 1989; 478: 349–355.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
32.Katz, DM, Erb, M, Lillis, R, Neet, K.Trophic regulation of nodose ganglion cell development: evidence for an expanded role of nerve growth factor during embryogenesis in the rat. Exp Neurol 1976; 110: 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
33.Lack, EE.Microanatomy of vagal body paraganglia in infancy including victims of sudden infant death syndrome. Pediatr Pathol 1989; 9: 373–386.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
34.Grimley, PM, Glenner, GG.Ultrastructure of the human carotid body. A perspective on the mode of chemoreception. Circulation 1968; 37: 648–665.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
35.Gobbi, H, Barbosa, AJA, Teixeria, VPA, Almeida, HO.Immunocytochemical identification of neuroendocrine markers in human cardiac paraganglion-like structures. Histochemistry 1991; 95: 337–340.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed