Parenting, Sibling-Support, and Infant Development

描述（由申请人提供）：发育中的生物体在个体发育过程中遇到的早期环境对整个生命具有深远而持久的影响。在人类后代中，早期家庭环境和妊娠内分泌环境的变化可以深刻地塑造多个生物社会参数，包括社会性和行为，压力反应，青春期时间和后来的父母风格。我们将在一个与人类发育相关的绒猴模型中研究早期环境对发育的影响。绒猴的发育发生在一个家庭系统中，多个照顾者提供质量和数量不同形式的照顾。此外，母亲经常在产后立即怀孕，导致母体类固醇激素（包括雄激素）升高，这可能影响发育中的胎儿（通过胎盘转移）和哺乳后代（通过乳源性类固醇），这是一种经常在人类女性中发现的病症（例如，多囊卵巢综合征。此外，雌性绒猴在怀孕期间也表现出糖皮质激素水平的升高和变化，这表明后代可能受到不同的影响。本申请中描述的研究将解决3个目标：1）早期护理的变化是否产生行为、生理和父母护理的表型变化？2)出生前后外源性类固醇如何影响绒猴的行为、躯体和生殖发育？妊娠期糖皮质激素暴露的变化是否会改变发育轨迹，特别是应激系统和躯体发育？使用一个已建立的绒猴群体，我们将评估绒猴接受的早期护理和后来父母对自己后代的照顾之间的联系。其次，我们将寻找在妊娠期和哺乳期（包括牛奶中的浓度）和随后的生物行为参数之间的关联。最后，我们将监测皮质醇对标准化的心理社会应激源的反应，以评估是否暴露于高胎儿糖皮质激素程序绒猴是应激反应。 公共卫生相关性：早期子宫和产后社会环境的差异使发育中的后代倾向于具有健康相关性的特征（例如，青春期时间、应激反应、社会性）。这些项目将评估早期环境对绒猴生物社会发展的影响，绒猴是一个与人类社会性和生物学有许多相似之处的物种。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Early environments that developing organisms encounter during ontogeny have profound and persistent effects throughout life. In human offspring, variation in early family environments and gestational endocrine environments can profoundly shape multiple biosocial parameters, including sociality and behavior, stress reactivity, pubertal timing, and later parental style. We will examine the impact of early environments on development in a marmoset model that is relevant to human development. Marmoset development occurs in a family system, with multiple caregivers providing qualitatively and quantitatively different forms of care. Further, mothers often conceive immediately postpartum, leading to elevated maternal steroid hormones (including androgens) that can impact both developing fetuses (via placental transfer) and nursing offspring (via milk-borne steroids), a condition often found in human females (e.g., polycystic ovarian syndrome). In addition, female marmosets also exhibit elevated and varying levels of glucocorticoid hormones during pregnancy, suggesting that offspring may be differentially affected. The studies described in this application will address 3 aims: 1) Does variation in early care produce phenotypic variation in behavioral, physiological, and parental care?; 2) How is behavioral, somatic, and reproductive development shaped by pre- and postnatal exogenous steroids in marmosets?; and 3) does variation in gestational exposure to glucocorticoid hormone alter developmental trajectories, particularly in the stress system and somatic development? Using an established colony of marmosets, we will evaluate the links between early care received by marmosets and later parental care toward their own offspring. Secondly, we will look for associations among maternal androgens during gestation and during lactation (including concentrations in milk) and subsequent biobehavioral parameters. Finally, we will monitor cortisol responses to a standardized psychosocial stressor to evaluate whether exposure to high fetal glucocorticoids programs marmosets to be stress-responsive. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Differences in early uterine and postnatal social environments predispose developing offspring toward characteristics that have health relevance (e.g., pubertal timing, stress reactivity, sociality). These projects will assess the impact of early environments on biosocial development in marmosets, a species with many similarities to human sociality and biology.