Buss Claudia, Lord Catherine, Wadiwalla Mehereen, Hellhammer Dirk H, Lupien Sonia J, Meaney Michael J, Pruessner Jens C
University of Trier, Department for Theoretical and Clinical Psychobiology, 54290 Trier, Germany.
J Neurosci. 2007 Mar 7;27(10):2592-5. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3252-06.2007.
Smaller hippocampal volume is associated with psychiatric disorders. Variations in hippocampal volume are discussed as both a consequence of the neurotoxic effects of stress and as a pre-existing condition leading to increased vulnerability for cognitive and emotional impairments. To investigate whether early experience can account for variability in hippocampal volume in adulthood (vulnerability hypothesis), we assessed the relationship between birth weight and hippocampal volume in 44 subjects. The reported quality of maternal care in early childhood, as evaluated by the Parental Bonding Inventory, was used as index of the quality of the postnatal environment. Hippocampal volume was assessed from magnetic resonance images using a manual segmentation protocol. We show that birth weight significantly predicts hippocampal volume in adulthood only in female subjects reporting low maternal care. The results suggest that the postnatal environment modulates the neurodevelopmental consequences of prenatal risk and that this effect is sex-specific.
较小的海马体体积与精神疾病有关。海马体体积的变化被认为既是压力的神经毒性作用的结果，也是导致认知和情感障碍易感性增加的一种预先存在的状况。为了研究早期经历是否可以解释成年期海马体体积的变异性（易感性假说），我们评估了44名受试者的出生体重与海马体体积之间的关系。通过父母关系量表评估的幼儿期报告的母亲照料质量，被用作产后环境质量的指标。使用手动分割协议从磁共振图像中评估海马体体积。我们发现，只有在报告母亲照料水平低的女性受试者中，出生体重才显著预测成年期的海马体体积。结果表明，产后环境调节产前风险的神经发育后果，并且这种影响具有性别特异性。
