Morphology, immunohistochemistry and morphometry of pancreatic islets in cases of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)

The pancreatic islets from 112 infants (66 males and 46 females) who died of SIDS during the years 1990– 1992 have been studied. The control group consisted of endocrine pancreas tissue from 19 infants who died of a clear cause of death (pneumonia, drowning, sepsis, etc.). The mean age of the SIDS group was 5.1 months. We found histologically normally developed organs in all the SIDS cases. By evaluating the relative endocrine cell area of the pancreas by immunohistochemical investigations, A-cells were found to make up 10–30%, B-cells 30–60%, D-cells 10–30% and pancreatic polypeptide cells less than 10% in the SIDS group and in the controls with a small increase in glucagon and insulin cells among SIDS cases. The morphometric evaluation revealed that cell enlargement and cytoplasm shrinking occurred slightly more often in the SIDS group than in the control group. The diameter of the islets was normal and the maximal volume was not enlarged. The results did not show significant differences so that a relationship between alterations of the endocrine pancreas and sudden infant death syndrome could not be demonstrated.