Cerebellar Purkinje cell vulnerability to prenatal nicotine exposure in sudden unexplained perinatal death

The present study was aimed at supplementing our previous investigations on the morphological features of the Purkinje cells during the autonomic nervous system development, particularly in victims of sudden perinatal death (Sudden Intrauterine Unexplained Death Syndrome and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), given their crucial role in determining connectivity patterns in the brain as well as in the control of autonomic functions. We highlighted in these pathologies, and precisely in 21 cases of sudden foetal death and 26 cases of sudden infant death, a high percentage of developmental defects of the Purkinje cells such as heterotopia, hypoplasia, hyperplasia, mitotic and/or shrunken features and abnormal neuronal nuclear antigen expression. These alterations can be interpreted as a result of a defective maturation and/or migration of Purkinje cells in foetal cerebellum, likely consequence of exposure to injuries, particularly to maternal cigarette smoke. Interestingly, we observed in sudden perinatal deaths an association with similar developmental defects of both the dentate and the inferior olivary nuclei. This suggests the existence of a Purkinje-Olivo-Dentate network playing a fundamental role in triggering a sudden death mechanism in perinatal life in the presence of specific risk factors.