Journal
JOURNAL OF FORENSIC SCIENCES
Volume 59, Issue 6, Pages 1650-1653Publisher
WILEY-BLACKWELL
DOI: 10.1111/1556-4029.12526
Keywords
forensic science; sudden infant death syndrome; genetic risk factors; noradrenergic pathway; tyrosine hydroxylase; short tandem repeats
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Catecholamines, especially noradrenalin, are essential in the control of respiration and arousal. Thus, an impaired production of these neurotransmitters may contribute to the occurrence of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The first step of the noradrenergic synthesis pathway is catalyzed by the enzyme tyrosine hydroxylase (TH). The TH-encoding gene contains a tetrameric short tandem repeat in intron 1 (TH01), with allele 9.3 reported to be associated with SIDS in German infants. We investigated the allelic frequency of the TH01 marker in 171 Swiss SIDS infants and 500 healthy and gender-matched Caucasian adults. In our study population, the allelic frequency of the 9.3 allele is similarly distributed in SIDS cases and controls (27.2% vs. 25.6%; p-value=0.562). Nevertheless, the TH-encoding gene is only one of several genes involved in the noradrenergic biosynthesis pathway. Therefore, further genetic investigations are required with focus on the whole noradrenergic signaling system.
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