Role of thyroid function in the intergenerational transmission of maternal childhood maltreatment effects

甲状腺功能在母亲儿童期虐待效应代际传播中的作用

• 批准号: 441735381
• 负责人: Dr. Nora Moog
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Institut für Medizinische Psychologie (CCM)
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2019-12-31 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/441735381?language=en
• 关键词: Role; thyroid; function; intergenerational; transmission

Experience of childhood maltreatment (CM) may become biologically embedded in the exposed individual and may increase the risk for adverse mental and physical health effects later in life. Increasing evidence suggests that these adverse sequelae of CM may get transmitted to the next generation; however, the time window(s) and mechanisms of such intergenerational transmission have yet to be clarified. In the proposed project, I intend to address the hypothesis that transmission of the adverse consequences of CM commences already during the intrauterine period of development via alterations in gestational thyroid biology. An adequate supply with maternal thyroid hormones is of prime importance for normal fetal brain development and for cognitive functioning later in life. Cognitive deficits, in turn, often precede the same emotional and behavioral disorders that have been observed in children of CM-mothers und could thus represent a sensitive marker for disease risk. Maternal thyroid function could therefore have a mechanistic role in the intergenerational transmission of CM effects. As a first step addressing this hypothesis, the current project seeks to elucidate the associations between CM and thyroid function during pregnancy as well as cognitive development in the offspring in the first two years of life in a prospective longitudinal study. A unique strength of the current proposal is the availability of a very well-characterized cohort of 240 mother-child-dyads with and without CM that is currently being recruited. At three time points during pregnancy, psychosocial stress and its biological correlates are assessed. After birth (1, 6, 12, and 24 months) serial measures of infant development and environmental moderators are conducted (including multimodal imaging of the brain). The current proposal requests funds to add a) measures during pregnancy of maternal thyroid function (TSH, fT4, fT3, TT4, rT3, TPO-Ab, hCG), and b) detailed tests of infant cognitive function at 12 and 24 months of age. This study will shed light on the causes and mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of early life stress and inform early intervention strategies.

儿童期虐待(CM)的经历可能会从生物学上根植于暴露于此的个人中，并可能增加日后对心理和身体健康造成不利影响的风险。越来越多的证据表明，CM的这些不良后遗症可能会传递给下一代；然而，这种代际传递的时间窗口(S)和机制尚不清楚。在拟议的项目中，我打算解决这样的假设，即CM的不良后果在宫内发育期间就已经通过妊娠甲状腺生物学的改变开始传播。充足的母体甲状腺激素供应对于胎儿大脑的正常发育和以后生活中的认知功能至关重要。反过来，认知缺陷往往先于在CM母亲的孩子中观察到的相同的情绪和行为障碍，因此可能是疾病风险的敏感标志。因此，母亲的甲状腺功能可能在CM效应的代际传递中起到机械作用。作为解决这一假说的第一步，目前的项目试图在一项前瞻性的纵向研究中阐明CM与怀孕期间甲状腺功能以及婴儿出生后头两年认知发展之间的关系。目前提议的一个独特优势是，目前正在招募一支特征非常明确的240名母子二人组，其中有没有CM。在怀孕期间的三个时间点，评估心理社会压力及其生物学相关性。出生后(1、6、12和24个月)进行婴儿发育和环境调节剂的系列测量(包括大脑的多模式成像)。目前的提案要求增加资金，以增加a)怀孕期间母亲甲状腺功能(TSH、FT4、FT3、TT4、RT3、TPO-Ab、hCG)的测量，以及b)12个月和24个月大婴儿认知功能的详细测试。这项研究将有助于揭示早期生活压力代际传递的原因和机制，并为早期干预策略提供参考。