Aberrant colon metabolome and the sudden infant death syndrome

Abstract

Background: The Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) has been associated with increased peripheral serotonin and an abnormal colonic microbiome, suggesting the colonic metabolome may also be abnormal. This study addresses this potential correlation by comparing colonic autopsy tissue from SIDS to age-matched non-SIDS controls.

Methods: Untargeted metabolomic analysis by mass spectrometry is used to assess human colonic metabolomic differences including serotonin. Expression of genes associated with colonic serotonin synthesis and transport (TPH1, TPH2, DDC, SCL6A4) is measured by qRT-PCR. Microbiome analysis is performed to compare the SIDS and non-SIDS colonic microbiome.

Results: Unsupervised hierarchical cluster and principal component analyses of metabolomic data shows increased variability in the SIDS cohort and separation of SIDS cases from the non-SIDS controls. There is a trend toward increased serotonin in the SIDS cohort but there is no significant difference in expression of the serotonin synthesis and transport genes between SIDS and non-SIDS control cohorts. Microbiome analysis shows no significant difference between the SIDS and non-SIDS control cohorts.

Conclusions: This study demonstrates increased variability in the colonic metabolome and a trend towards increased colonic serotonin in SIDS. The underlying cause of colon metabolomic variability, and its potential role in SIDS pathogenesis, warrants further investigation.

Impact statement: The key message of this article is that SIDS is associated with an aberrant colonic metabolome. This is a novel observation suggesting another component in the pathophysiology underlying SIDS. Investigation of why the colonic metabolome is aberrant may offer new insights to SIDS pathogenesis and new strategies to reduce risk.