Prenatal famine exposure has sex-specific effects on brain size
Prenatal famine exposure has sex-specific effects on brain size
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DOI：
10.1093/brain/aww132
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发表时间：
2016-08-01
期刊：
影响因子：
14.5
通讯作者：
Roseboom, Tessa J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
de Rooij, Susanne R.;Caan, Matthan W. A.;Roseboom, Tessa J.
早期营养缺乏可能会对大脑造成不可逆转的损害。产前暴露于营养不良已被证明与出生时中枢神经系统异常增加和成年后认知功能下降有关。人们对老年大脑的潜在影响知之甚少。我们调查了产前饥荒暴露后68岁的大脑大小和结构。对118名荷兰饥荒出生队列成员的大脑进行了t1加权结构磁共振成像。在这118人中（44%为男性，年龄在65-69岁之间），41人在妊娠早期接触过饥荒，77人在产前未接触过饥荒。使用FreeSurfer自动评估结构体积。进行扩散张量成像，计算各向异性和扩散系数。采用流体衰减反演恢复来评估白质高信号。在妊娠早期暴露于饥荒与较小的颅内容量有关的男性，而不是女性。早期暴露的男性的总脑容量、灰质和白质也较小，但在调整了颅内容量后，这些差异消失了。与未暴露的受试者相比，产前暴露的男性而非女性的颅内和总脑容量更小。我们的研究结果表明，产前营养不良会永久性地影响大脑的大小。
Early nutritional deprivation might cause irreversible damage to the brain. Prenatal exposure to undernutrition has been shown to be associated with increased central nervous system anomalies at birth and decreased cognitive function in adulthood. Little is known about the potential effect on the brain in older age. We investigated brain size and structure at age 68 years after prenatal famine exposure. T1-weighted structural magnetic resonance images of the brain were made in 118 Dutch famine birth cohort members. Of these 118 (44% male, age range 65-69 years), 41 had been exposed to famine in early gestation and 77 had been prenatally unexposed. Structural volumes were automatically assessed using FreeSurfer. Diffusion tensor imaging was performed and anisotropy and diffusivity were computed. Fluid attenuated inversion recovery was performed to assess white matter hyperintensities. Exposure to famine in early gestation was associated with smaller intracranial volume in males, but not females. Volumes of total brain, grey and white matter were also smaller in early exposed males, but these differences disappeared after adjusting for intracranial volume. Prenatally exposed males but not females, had a smaller intracranial and total brain volume compared to unexposed subjects. Our findings show that prenatal undernutrition permanently affected brain size.