Psychological and Socio-Environmental Determinants of Sleep and Neurocognitive Function (PEDS)

自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）是一组复杂的神经发育障碍，影响社会 互惠、交流和重复、刻板的行为。流行病学联系分娩 然而，在人类中的观察性研究无法证实， 以确定这种关联的潜在因果关系。因此，我们将使用社会一夫一妻制 草原田鼠（Microtus ochrogaster）。草原田鼠是为数不多的允许我们研究的动物模型之一 研究选择性社会依恋的神经生物学基础，这对人类健康很重要， 幸福我们的初步证据表明，通过CS分娩的草原田鼠不能形成伴侣， 这表明他们在选择性社会依恋方面存在一些缺陷。先前的工作已经 表明，CS交付可以影响压力反应，延迟社交技能，并降低社会自尊， 婴儿期/儿童期，但几乎没有相关的研究已经在人类中进行，以检查CS如何 可能会影响以后的社会行为。因此，我们将调查：社会行为如何受到CS的影响 在草原田鼠的整个发育过程中，CS的传递是否影响功能和结构 大脑内的连通性，以及出生时催产素和/或缺氧对这种关系的贡献 CS分娩和随后的神经发育之间的关系。我们假设通过干扰催产素 由于出生时的信号传导，CS的传递使发育中的大脑更容易受到缺氧的影响，这反过来又损害了 大脑发育的方式使新生儿容易患上自闭症。

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are a complex set of neurodevelopmental disorders, affecting social reciprocity, communication and repetitive, stereotyped behaviors. Epidemiological associations link delivery by cesarean section (CS) with increased risk of ASD, however, observational studies in humans are unable to determine the potential for causality in this association. Therefore, we will use the socially monogamous prairie vole (Microtus ochrogaster). The prairie vole is one of the few animal models that allows us to examine the neurobiology underlying selective social attachments, which are important to human health and wellbeing. Our preliminary evidence suggests that prairie voles delivered via CS fail to form partner preferences as adults, which indicates some deficit in their selective social attachment. Previous work has indicated that CS delivery can affect stress reactivity, delay social skills, and reduce social self-esteem in infancy / childhood, but virtually no relevant studies have been conducted in humans to examine how CS might impact social behavior in later life. Therefore, we will investigate: how social behavior is affected by CS delivery throughout development in prairie voles, whether CS delivery affects functional and structural connectivity within the brain, and the contributions of oxytocin and/or hypoxia at birth to the relationship between CS delivery and subsequent neurodevelopment. We hypothesize that by disrupting oxytocin signaling at birth, CS delivery makes the developing brain more vulnerable to hypoxia, which in turn insults brain development in ways that predispose the newborn towards ASDs.