Fetal Neurobehavioral Development & Postnatal Continuity

描述(申请人提供)：出生前的时期是人类健康和发展研究的最后前沿。近年来，人们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规范发育。我们的目标已经并将继续是三重目标。这些措施包括：确定健康、低风险妊娠期间胎儿神经行为和生理功能发育的正常模式(个体发育)；确定产妇的心理和生理调节因素如何影响产前发育的过程(产妇的影响)，以及评估个体从产前到出生后功能的内部和跨领域连续性，以此作为了解个体差异的根源的手段(预测)。本项目期间将重点进一步确定诱发的胎儿反应性对母体功能的影响，以及诱发的母体反应性对胎儿功能的影响。这一努力是由当前项目期间的发现产生的，这些发现揭示了母亲-胎儿配对中的时间、双向联系。建议进行两项产前研究。第一项研究(n=52)检测听觉刺激产生的诱发胎儿反应在三个妊娠期(24周、30周和36周)引起母体生理反应的能力。第二项研究(n=108)评估胎儿在四个妊娠期(18、24、30和36周)对孕期特定背景下的母体唤醒的反应。这两项研究都包括母亲自主神经(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。将在出生后5个月对配对进行跟踪，以确定产前母婴同步性和相互反应的特征如何促进母婴关系的展开，这是通过在未受干扰的基线互动期间和旨在扰乱配对之间时间调节过程的静止状态下行为和生理同步的程度来衡量的。这个项目将进一步加深我们对母亲因素的理解，这些因素对发育中的胎儿和最早的关系的起源产生了积极或消极的影响。与公共卫生相关：最近，人们对描述出生前发育如何进行及其对以后生活的影响非常感兴趣。在这项研究中，我们将调查母亲的生理和情绪如何影响胎儿的发育，以及发育中的胎儿可能如何影响孕妇。我们将利用这些信息来了解母亲如何在婴儿出生的第一年与他们互动。

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.