UVA studies reveal how a baby’s first breath causes lifelong changes in the respiratory system

December 4, 2020

Life is as precious, critical and rare as the baby’s first breath. A new study at the University of Virginia School of Medicine may shed light on the lifelong changes in the respiratory system that occur exactly in its first breath and provide important insights into Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

A team of researchers led by UVA’s Yingtang Shi and MD. Patrice Guyenet, Ph.D. Douglas A. Bayliss, Ph.D. Discovered a signaling system in the brainstem. This system activates almost immediately at birth to support early breathing. Its first gasping, which all parents cherish, seems to trigger this support system.

Birth is a trauma for newborns because the baby must independently control a variety of important physical functions, including breathing. We believe that activating this support system at birth will provide an additional factor of safety during this critical period. “

Douglas A. Bayliss, President of UVA Faculty of Pharmacy

Regulate your baby’s breathing

A new discovery is that researchers are stable and robust physiology that oxygenates the body perfectly for the rest of our lives from a potentially deadly pause where breathing is prone to brain damage. It helps you understand how to migrate to your system. Before the baby is born, the transition at birth can be a very fragile period, as breathing is not required and breathing movements occur only intermittently.

UVA’s Bayliss and his colleagues, working with researchers at the University of Alberta and Harvard, discovered that certain genes are turned on shortly after birth in a cluster of neurons that selectively regulate respiration in mice. did. This gene produces a peptide neurotransmitter, a chain of amino acids that relays information between neurons. This transmitter, called PACAP, begins to be released by these neurons as soon as the baby appears in the world.

Scientists have found that suppressing peptides in mice causes respiratory problems and increases the frequency of apneas. Apnea is a potentially dangerous breathing pause. These apneas increased further with changes in environmental temperature. These observations suggest that problems with the neuropeptide system may contribute to SIDS.

Understand SIDS

SIDS, also known as Sudden Infant Death, is the sudden, unexplained death of a child under the age of one. This is the leading cause of infant mortality in Western countries. SIDS is due to a combination of genetic and environmental factors, including temperature. UVA’s new research suggests that problems with the neuropeptide system may increase the baby’s susceptibility to SIDS and other respiratory problems.

PACAP is the first signaling molecule shown to be turned on in large quantities and specifically at birth by the respiratory network and is genetically associated with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Researchers point out that the causes of sudden infant death syndrome are probably complex and there may be other important factors to discover.

These findings offer the interesting possibility that additional changes related to childbirth can occur in the control system of breathing and other important functions. This may be a general design principle in which fail-safe support systems are activated during this critical transition period, and understanding them may lead to better treatment of neonatal disorders. I think it is. “

Dr. Douglas A. Bayliss

Published survey results

Researchers have published their findings in the prestigious scientific journal Nature. The research team consists of Yingtang Shi, Daniel S. Stornetta, Robert J. Reklow, Alisha Sahu, Yvonne Wabara, Ashley Nguyen, Keyong Li, Yong Zhang, Edward Perez-Reyes, Rachel A. Ross, Bradford B. Lowell, and Ruth L. it was done. .Stornetta, Gregory D. Funk, Patrice G. Guyenet, and Douglas A. Bayliss.

The work is supported by the National Institutes of Health, with grants R01 HL108609, R01 HL074011, R01 DK096010, R01 DK075632, K08 DK118201, T32 HL007374. Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome Family Foundation; Canadian Institute of Health; by Harrison Undergraduate Research Award.