RUI: Hormonal and Behavioral Attachment Responses

非自愿与母亲分离的婴儿可能会遭受严重的生理和行为后果。我们所知道的大多数关于这种生理效应的研究都来自于对非人类灵长类动物的研究。这些影响包括交感神经活动的增加，神经递质水平的变化，以及与压力相关的神经内分泌系统--垂体-肾上腺系统的活动增加。多年来，人们只能在灵长类动物身上研究这样的问题，因为人们认为普通的实验室啮齿动物对分离的反应方式与灵长类动物，可能还有人类的反应方式根本不同。在NSF之前的支持下，Hennessy博士证明了幼年豚鼠对母体分离的反应在许多方面与灵长类动物相似。豚鼠模型提供了灵长类研究的另一种选择，而灵长类研究反过来又提供了许多实用的优势。Hennessy博士将继续他的研究，以加深我们对短暂的母婴分离如何改变神经内分泌和行为功能的理解。这些研究将有助于我们理解母婴分离的后果和依恋过程，并阐明幼儿应激反应的性质。

Infants that are involuntarily separated from their mothers may suffer severe physiological and behavioral consequences. Most of what we know concerning the physiological effects has derived from studies using nonhuman primates. These effects include increases in sympathetic activity, changes in neurotransmitter levels, and increased activity of the pituitary-adrenal system, a neuroendocrine system associated with stress. For many years, it was only possible to study such questions in primates since common laboratory rodents have been thought to respond to separation in a fundamentally different way than do primates, and possibly humans. With his previous NSF support, Dr. Hennessy demonstrated that the responses of young guinea pigs to maternal separation are in many ways similar to those of primates. The guinea pig model provides an alternative to primate research which, in turn, offers many practical advantages. Dr. Hennessy would continue his research to further our understanding of how brief periods of maternal separation alter neuroendocrine and behavioral functioning. These studies will contribute to our understanding of the consequences of mother-infant separation and processes of attachment and elucidate the nature of the stress response in young.