Histological maturation of the bra in stem neurons in sudden infant death syndrome. A Golgi-Cox studyBrains from three patients that died of sudden infant death syndrome |SIDS] were examined to determine the pattern of histological maturation of btainstem ganglia not directly related to cardio-respiratory and sleep activity |lhe ponline, principal olive and hypogiossus nuclei) in comparison with that shown by the same structures from three non-SIDS patients, using the Golgi-Cox and morphometric methods. Brains from sudden infant death syndrome patients show significant reduction of dendritic arborization in the studied bnainstem nuclei, as compared with the age matched controls. Our findings suggest than in infants who subsequently die of SIDS, there may be a delay in the neuronal maturation of the whole brainstem and not only at the cardiorespiratory centers, as previously suggested-This quantitative difference in dendritic arborization may represent an anatomical substrate of brainstem inmaturity which could play some role in the multifactorlol pathogenesis of SIDS.