Fetal Neurobehavioral Development & Postnatal Continuity

描述（由申请人提供）：出生前的时期是人类健康和发育研究的最后前沿。近年来，对儿童和成人幸福的胎儿起源的兴趣呈指数级增长。在过去的16年里，在这个奖项的赞助下，我们一直在记录胎儿的正常发育。我们的目标有三个方面，并将继续有三个方面。其中包括：表征健康、低风险妊娠期胎儿神经行为和生理功能发育的正常模式（个体发育）;确定母亲的调解人，心理和生理，如何影响产前发育的过程（母亲的影响），并在内部和交叉评估-作为理解个体差异起源的一种手段，个体从出生前到出生后发育的功能领域连续性（预测）。本项目期间将集中于进一步确定诱发的胎儿反应对母体功能的影响，以及诱发的母体反应对胎儿功能的影响。这一奋进是由当前项目期间的发现产生的，这些发现揭示了母胎对中的时间双向联系。两个产前研究建议。第一个（n = 52）检查的能力，诱发胎儿的听觉刺激介绍所产生的反应，以引起产妇的生理反应，在三个妊娠期（24，30和36周）。第二个（n = 108）评估胎儿的反应，在妊娠特定的背景下，在四个妊娠期（18，24，30，和36周）引起的母亲唤醒。这两项研究都包括母体自主神经（心率、迷走神经张力、皮肤电导、呼吸）和神经激素（唾液皮质醇）激活的指标;胎儿测量侧重于心率及其模式、运动活动以及两者之间的关系。在出生后5个月时对婴儿进行随访，以确定产前母胎同步性和对彼此的反应性特征如何有助于展开母婴关系，如在未受干扰的基线互动期和静止面部条件下（旨在破坏婴儿对之间的时间调节过程）的行为和生理同步性程度所测量的。这个项目将进一步我们的母亲的影响因素的理解，积极或消极的，对发展中的胎儿和最早的关系的起源。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，我们将探讨产妇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。我们将利用这些信息来了解母亲在婴儿出生后的第一年如何与婴儿互动。

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.