Fetal Neurobehavioral Development & Postnatal Continuity

说明（由申请人提供）：出生前是人类健康和发展研究的最后前沿。近年来，对儿童和成人福祉的胎儿起源的兴趣呈指数增长。在这个奖项的支持下，我们在过去的16年里一直在记录胎儿的规范发育。我们的目标一直是三重的，并将继续是三重的。这些包括：在健康、低风险的妊娠中确定胎儿神经行为和生理功能在妊娠期间的正常发育模式（个体发育）；确定心理和生理上的母体介质如何影响产前发育过程（母体影响），并评估个体从产前到产后发育的内部和跨领域连续性，作为理解个体差异起源的一种手段（预测）。本课题将进一步明确诱发性胎儿反应对母体功能的影响，以及诱发性母体反应对胎儿功能的影响。这一努力是由当前项目期间的发现产生的，该发现揭示了母胎对之间的时间、双向联系。提出了两项产前研究。第一项研究（n = 52）考察了在三个妊娠期（24周、30周和36周）由听觉刺激产生的诱发胎儿反应引发母体生理反应的能力。第二项研究（n = 108）评估了胎儿在妊娠特定情况下（18、24、30和36周）对母亲唤醒的反应。两项研究都包括母体自主神经（心率、迷走神经张力、皮肤传导、呼吸）和神经激素（唾液皮质醇）激活的指标；胎儿测量的重点是心率及其模式，运动活动，以及两者之间的关系。将对出生后5个月的婴儿进行随访，以确定产前母胎同步性和对彼此的反应性特征如何促进母婴关系的发展，通过在未受干扰的基线互动期间的行为和生理同步性程度来衡量，并在静止的面部条件下设计，以破坏夫妇之间的时间调节过程。这个项目将进一步加深我们对母体因素的理解，这些因素对胎儿的发育有积极或消极的影响，以及最早的关系的起源。公共卫生相关性：最近人们对描述出生前的发育过程及其对以后生活的影响产生了极大的兴趣。在这项研究中，我们将探讨母亲的生理和情绪如何影响胎儿的发育，以及发育中的胎儿如何影响孕妇。我们将运用这些信息来了解母亲在婴儿出生后的第一年是如何与他们互动的。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The period before birth is the final frontier of investigation in human health and development. Interest in fetal origins of childhood and adult well-being has increased exponentially in recent years. We have been documenting normative development of the fetus for the past 16 years under the auspices of this award. Our goals have, and continue to be, threefold. These include: characterizing normal patterns of development of fetal neurobehavioral and physiological functioning during gestation in healthy, low risk pregnancies (Ontogeny); determining how maternal mediators, both psychological and physiological, affect the course of antenatal development (Maternal Influences), and evaluating within and cross-domain continuity in function from prenatal to postnatal development within individuals as a means of understanding the origins of individual differences (Prediction). This project period will focus on further defining the effects of evoked fetal reactivity on maternal function, and evoked maternal reactivity on fetal functioning. This endeavor was generated by findings in the current project period that revealed temporal, bidirectional linkages within the maternal-fetal pair. Two prenatal studies are proposed. The first (n = 52) examines the capacity of an evoked fetal response generated by auditory stimulus presentation to elicit a maternal physiological response at three gestational periods (24, 30, and 36 weeks). The second (n = 108) evaluates fetal responsivity to maternal arousal evoked within a pregnancy specific context at four gestational periods (18, 24, 30, and 36 weeks). Both studies include indicators of maternal autonomic (heart rate, vagal tone, skin conductance, respiration) and neurohormonal (salivary cortisol) activation; fetal measures focus on heart rate and its patterning, motor activity, and the relation between the two. Pairs will be followed at 5 months postnatal age to determine how features of prenatal maternal-fetal synchrony and responsiveness to one another contribute to the unfolding maternal-infant relationship, as measured by the degree of behavioral and physiological synchrony during an undisturbed, baseline interactive period and a still-face condition designed to disrupt the temporal regulatory process between the pair. This project will further our understanding of the maternal factors that impinge, positively or negatively, on the developing fetus and the origins of the earliest relationship. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: There is tremendous recent interest in characterizing how development proceeds before birth and its implications for later life. In this study we will investigate how maternal physiology and emotions affect the development of the fetus and how the developing fetus may affect the pregnant woman. We will apply this information to understanding how mothers interact with their infants during their first year of life.