Zhang W D, Tsukamoto T, Yamada Y, Itakura Y, Oono T, Nagao M, Takatori T
Department of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Japan.
Nihon Hoigaku Zasshi. 1992 Jun;46(3):189-97.
This study was designed to assess whether development of the astrocytes in central nervous system (CNS) is delayed in victims of the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and to try the classification of astrocytes by a morphological method. The glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is the major component of astrocytic fiber and is characteristic of astrocytes in the human CNS. An immunohistochemical study identificating this protein was carried out on infant brains to evaluate astrocytes. Morphologically 39 brains of infants aging under 12 months old, that including 10 asphyxia, 13 respiratory infections and 16 SIDS cases, were stained for GFAP by the peroxidase-anti-peroxidase (PAP) method. According to their staining pattern astrocytes were classified into 4 cell types: Type I cells were seen during the non-proliferating period, Type II cells during the low-proliferating period, Type III cells during the moderate-proliferating period and Type IV cells during the high-proliferating period. On the basis of this classification of astrocytes, it was observed that the first and most reactive pattern of physiological proliferation was in infant brains four months old after birth in the asphyxia cases. The staining grade of astrocytes was significantly less in white matter in the SIDS victims compared with age-matched of the respiratory infections and asphyxia. Therefore, we suggest that development of brain in the SIDS cases is delayed to controls and that the SIDS is associated with a developmental CNS disorder. Among 3 group cases the retarded staining pattern of the astrocytes in SIDS is interesting and might give a helpful approach to diagnosis of the cause of death for SIDS.
本研究旨在评估婴儿猝死综合征（SIDS）受害者中枢神经系统（CNS）中星形胶质细胞的发育是否延迟，并尝试通过形态学方法对星形胶质细胞进行分类。胶质纤维酸性蛋白（GFAP）是星形胶质细胞纤维的主要成分，是人类中枢神经系统中星形胶质细胞的特征性物质。对婴儿脑进行了一项鉴定该蛋白的免疫组织化学研究，以评估星形胶质细胞。从形态学上看，对39例12个月以下婴儿的脑进行了研究，其中包括10例窒息、13例呼吸道感染和16例SIDS病例，采用过氧化物酶-抗过氧化物酶（PAP）法对其进行GFAP染色。根据染色模式，星形胶质细胞被分为4种细胞类型：I型细胞见于非增殖期，II型细胞见于低增殖期，III型细胞见于中度增殖期，IV型细胞见于高增殖期。基于这种对星形胶质细胞的分类，观察到窒息病例中出生后4个月大的婴儿脑出现了生理增殖的第一种也是最活跃的模式。与年龄匹配的呼吸道感染和窒息病例相比，SIDS受害者白质中星形胶质细胞的染色分级明显较低。因此，我们认为SIDS病例的脑发育比对照组延迟，且SIDS与中枢神经系统发育障碍有关。在3组病例中，SIDS中星形胶质细胞的染色模式延迟很有趣，可能为SIDS死因诊断提供一种有用的方法。
