Hyperplasia of the aorticopulmonary paraganglia in infants dying of SIDS : further supports for the cardiorespiratory hypothesis

The possibility of a defect in the peripheral chemoreceptors in sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) has not been completely explored. The aorticopulmonary paraganglia (APP), near the base of the heart, have a physiologically documented role in chemoreception, but their neuroanatomic complexity has limited the investigations in human disease. In this study, we search for morphologic alterations in the APP of SIDS victims when compared with age-matched controls. Morphometric studies on serial sections of the APP were performed with an image analyzer in combination with a standard microscope attached to a video-camera. The mean lobule diameter, the surface area, differential cell count and index of cell density were determined and the total volume was calculated from Simpson’s rule.