Symons FJ, Tervo RC, Barney CC, Damerow J, Selim M, McAdams B, Foster S, Crabb GW, Kennedy W. Peripheral Innervation in Children With Global Developmental Delay: Biomarker for Risk for Self-Injurious Behavior?
J Child Neurol 2015;
30:1722-7. [PMID:
25918119 PMCID:
PMC4610824 DOI:
10.1177/0883073815579704]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2014] [Accepted: 03/07/2015] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
The relation between somatosensory mechanisms and self-injury among children with neurologic impairments associated with developmental delay is not well understood. We evaluated the feasibility of procuring skin biopsies to examine epidermal nerve fiber density and reported self-injury. Following informed parental consent, epidermal skin biopsies were obtained from a distal leg site with no pre-existing skin damage from 11 children with global developmental delay (55% male; mean age = 36.8 months, 17-63 months). Visual microscopic examination and quantitative analyses showed extremely high epidermal nerve fiber density values for some children. Children with reported self-injury (5/11) had significantly (P < .02) greater density values (138.8, standard deviation = 45.5) than children without self-injury (80.5, standard deviation = 17.5). Results from this novel immunohistologic analysis of skin in very young children with neurodevelopmental delays suggest it may be a useful tool to study peripheral innervation as a possible sensory risk factor for self-injury.
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