CHRONIC STRESS EFFECT ON CALMING POSTMATURE INFANTS

总体目标和具体目标：本研究的总体目标是探索 产前应激对克利福德病新生儿镇静的影响 成熟过后综合症。具体地说，拟议的实验是 旨在解决以下问题： L)早产儿出生后β-内啡肽和促肾上腺皮质激素是否升高 与足月儿相比，如果是这样，Clifford的阶段 S被诊断出的证候，对应于 生理指标的升高？ 2)出生时B-内啡肽a-促肾上腺皮质激素水平会(负面)预测 甜蜜的刺激能安抚易怒的足月儿吗？ 3)足月儿和健康足月婴儿在镇静方面有区别吗？ 通过安抚奶嘴对口腔内触觉刺激的反应？ 这项拟议的研究由两个实验组成。在实验中，L 婴儿将被分配到以下三种情况之一：婴儿 接受蔗糖的人将被给予14%或24%的0.1毫升等量 蔗糖溶液(重量/体积)输送10秒，一次/分钟，超过5- 一分钟时间。同样的方案将被用于无菌水的管理 分配给处于水环境中的婴儿。实验2中的婴儿将 接受空白奶嘴15分钟。因变量将为 在测试阶段哭的时间(刺激和 刺激后)，以及出生时的B-内啡肽和ACTH水平。 长期目标：预计这些发现将增加我们的 对口腔事件背后的过程及其关系的理解 人类新生儿的情感状态。除了扩大我们的 对健康婴儿镇静机制的了解， 这些发现还将提供有关婴儿出生时患有 克利福德后成熟综合症。此外，这样的发现将 预测阿片耐受性和其他疾病对蔗糖的反应性降低 产前应激婴儿，并将作为基础 对干预措施的建议。

General and Specific Aims: The general aim of this study is to explore the effects of prenatal stress on calming in infants born with Clifford's postmaturity syndrome. Specifically, the proposed experiments are designed to address the following questions: l) Do postmature infants have elevated postnatal B-endorphin and ACTH levels compared to term infants, and, if so, will the stage of Clifford's syndrome at which s/he has been diagnosed, correspond with the degree of elevation of the physiological measures? 2) Will B-endorphin a ACTH levels at birth predict (negatively) the ability of a sweet stimulus to calm irritable postmature infants? 3) Do postmature and healthy term infants differ in their calming responses to intraoral tactile stimulation via a pacifier? The proposed study is comprised of two experiments. In Experiment l, infants will be assigned to either one of three conditions: infants receiving sucrose will be given a 0.1 ml aliquot of either a 14% or 24% sucrose solution (weight/volume) delivered for 10 sec, once/min, over a 5- minute period. The same protocol will be used to administer sterile water to infants assigned to the water condition. Infants in Experiment 2 will receive a blank pacifier for 15 minutes. The dependent variables will be time spent crying during the test phases (stimulation and poststimulation), and B-endorphin and ACTH levels at birth. Long-Term Objectives: It is expected that these findings will increase our understanding of processes underlying oral events and their relationship to affective states in human neonates. In addition to expanding our knowledge of the mechanisms mediating calming in healthy human infants, these findings will also provide information regarding infants born with Clifford's postmaturity syndrome. Furthermore, such findings would predict diminished reactivity to sucrose in opiate-tolerant and other prenatally stressed infants and would serve as the basis for recommendation of interventions.