Li X, Andres A, Shankar K, Pivik R T, Glasier C M, Ramakrishnaiah R H, Zhang Y, Badger T M, Ou X
Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center, Little Rock, AR, USA.
Department of Radiology, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, USA.
Int J Obes (Lond). 2016 Dec;40(12):1931-1934. doi: 10.1038/ijo.2016.166. Epub 2016 Sep 28.
Recent studies have shown associations between maternal obesity at pre- or early pregnancy and long-term neurodevelopment in children, suggesting in utero effects of maternal obesity on offspring brain development. In this study, we examined whether brain functional connectivity to the prefrontal lobe network is different in newborns from normal-weight or obese mothers. Thirty-four full-term healthy infants from uncomplicated pregnancies were included, with 18 born to normal-weight and 16 born to obese mothers. Two weeks after delivery, the infants underwent an magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination during natural sleep, which included structural imaging and resting-state functional MRI (fMRI) scans. Independent component analysis was used to identify the prefrontal lobe network, and dual regression was used to compare functional connectivity between groups. Infants born to normal-weight mothers had higher recruiting (P<0.05, corrected) of dorsal anterior cingulate cortex regions to the prefrontal network after adjusting for maternal intelligence quotient, gestational weight gain and infant postmenstrual age, gender, birth weight/length, head circumference and neonatal diet. The functional connectivity strength in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex negatively correlated (P<0.05) with maternal fat mass percentage measured at early pregnancy. This preliminary study indicates that exposure to maternal obesity in utero may be associated with changes in resting-state functional connectivity in the newborn offspring's brain.
近期研究表明，孕期前或孕早期的母亲肥胖与儿童的长期神经发育之间存在关联，这表明母亲肥胖对后代大脑发育存在子宫内效应。在本研究中，我们调查了出生于体重正常或肥胖母亲的新生儿，其与前额叶网络的脑功能连接是否存在差异。研究纳入了34名来自无并发症妊娠的足月健康婴儿，其中18名母亲体重正常，16名母亲肥胖。出生两周后，婴儿在自然睡眠状态下接受了磁共振成像（MRI）检查，包括结构成像和静息态功能MRI（fMRI）扫描。采用独立成分分析来识别前额叶网络，并使用双回归分析来比较两组之间的功能连接。在调整了母亲的智商、孕期体重增加以及婴儿的孕龄、性别、出生体重/身长、头围和新生儿饮食等因素后，出生于体重正常母亲的婴儿，其背侧前扣带回皮质区域与前额叶网络的募集程度更高（P<0.05，校正后）。背侧前扣带回皮质的功能连接强度与孕早期测量的母亲脂肪质量百分比呈负相关（P<0.05）。这项初步研究表明，子宫内暴露于母亲肥胖可能与新生儿后代大脑静息态功能连接的变化有关。
