The Effects of Prenatal Stress & Poor Nutrition on Brain and Cognition

描述(申请人提供)：儿童的神经认知发展可能会给他们的未来蒙上阴影，极大地影响他们的职业功能和心理社会适应。虽然人们越来越认识到早期环境经验(即父母教养方式)的规范性差异在塑造认知发展方面发挥着重要作用，但有证据表明，环境对认知发展的影响始于宫内。怀孕期间的两种常见经历--心理社会压力和微量营养素摄入不足--尤其是铁和锌，会影响结局。根据学龄儿童的大脑成像，产前焦虑预示着婴儿期贝利量表上智力和运动发育的延迟，以及颞叶中部灰质的减少。动物模型已经证明，产前应用皮质类固醇与神经认知障碍(即学习困难)和脑结构变化(如海马体体积减少)有关。缺锌母亲所生的婴儿表现出记忆障碍的迹象。在这两种产前接触中，动物与人类研究的不同之处在于可以接触到新生儿的大脑。本项目的目标是评估母亲产前应激和营养不良对新生儿大脑结构和功能的影响，并将成像措施与儿童早期认知结果联系起来。提出的R01研究是ARRA资助的R01评估青春期怀孕期间的生物心理社会压力和营养的后续研究。具体地说，我们有三个主要目标要对怀孕的青少年(15-19岁)及其婴儿进行：(1)确定母亲产前应激与营养之间的关系，以及新生儿大脑发育的变化(通过多模式成像)。(2)确定特定学习和记忆任务中缺陷的神经基础，以及与产前应激和营养不足有关的认知发展的一般指数。(3)确定母性关怀(即母性敏感和母婴依恋方式)与婴儿新出现的学习和记忆能力之间的双向影响。建立这些产前暴露与婴儿认知之间的大脑关联关系，可能有助于明确怀孕常见的两种经历--高压力和营养不足--对宫内发育的影响，甚至可能在出生前就限制儿童未来的学习。这种结果将在政策和早期干预方法方面具有重大的公共卫生相关性。它们还可以帮助识别与暴露相关的“大脑信号”，用于诊断和治疗目的，就像抑郁症的成像研究中出现的那样。 公共卫生相关性：该项目的目标是评估母亲产前应激和营养不良与新生儿大脑结构和功能的关系，并将新生儿大脑的多模式成像测量(MRI)与儿童早期的神经认知结果联系起来。建立这些产前暴露与婴儿认知之间的大脑关联关系，可能会明确女性在怀孕期间的经历如何影响她们婴儿的发育，甚至可能影响孩子未来的学习，甚至在出生之前。这些结果可能与公共卫生非常相关，并可能为政策、早期干预方法提供信息，并有助于识别可能为诊断和治疗提供信息的大脑功能。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Children's neurocognitive development can cast long shadows on their futures, dramatically influencing their occupational functioning and psychosocial adjustment. While it is increasingly recognized that normative variation in early environmental experiences (i.e. parenting style), plays a significant role in shaping cognitive development, evidence indicates that the impact of the environment on cognitive development begins in utero. Two common experiences during pregnancy, psychosocial stress and inadequate micronutrient intake - prominently, iron and zinc, affect outcomes. Prenatal anxiety predicts delayed mental and motor development on the Bayley Scales in infancy, and a reduction in gray matter in the middle temporal lobe based on brain imaging in school-age children. Animal models have demonstrated that antenatal corticosteroid administration is associated with neurocognitive disabilities (i.e. difficulty learning) and structural brain changes such as reduction in hippocampal volume. Infants born to Zinc-deficient mothers show signs of memory impairment. Across both prenatal exposures, what differentiates the animal from the human studies is access to the neonatal brain. The goal of this project is to assess the influence of maternal prenatal stress and poor nutrition on neonatal brain structure and function, and to relate the imaging measures to cognitive outcomes in early childhood. The pro- posed R01 study is a follow-up to an ARRA-funded R01 assessing biopsychosocial stress and nutrition during adolescent pregnancy. Specifically, we have three primary aims to be carried out with pregnant adolescents (ages 15 -19) and their infants: (1) To determine associations between maternal antenatal stress and nutrition, and variation in newborn brain development (from multi-modal imaging). (2) To determine the neural bases of deficits in specific learning and memory tasks, and a general index of cognitive development, associated with prenatal stress and inadequate nutrition. (3) To determine the bidirectional influences between maternal care (i.e. maternal sensitivity and mother-infant attachment style) and infants' emerging learning and memory capacities. Establishing brain-associated relationships between these prenatal exposures and infant cognition has the potential to help specify the in utero developmental effects of two experiences common to pregnancy, high stress and inadequate nutrition, potentially constraining children's future learning even before birth. Such results would have significant public health relevance with respect to policy and early intervention approaches. They also could contribute to the identification of exposure-related 'brain signatures' to be used for diagnostic and treatment purposes, much as is emerging in imaging studies of depression. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The goal of this project is to assess the relationship between maternal prenatal stress and poor nutrition and newborn babies' brain structure and function, and to relate multi-modal imaging measures (MRI) of the new- born baby's brain to neurocognitive outcomes in early childhood. Establishing brain-associated relationships between these prenatal exposures and infant cognition has the potential to specify how women's experiences during pregnancy influence their baby's development, potentially affecting children's future learning even be- fore birth. These results could be very relevant to public health and could inform policy, early intervention approaches, and help to identify brain features that could inform diagnosis and treatment.