School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK; Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, 9 South Parks Road, Oxford, UK.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Warneford Hospital, Oxford, UK.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2017 Dec;86:1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.09.004. Epub 2017 Sep 5.
Fetal programming is the idea that environmental stimuli can alter the development of the fetus, which may have a long-term effect on the child. We have recently reported that maternal prenatal cortisol predicts infant negative emotionality in a sex-dependent manner: high prenatal cortisol was associated with increased negative emotionality in females, and decreased negative emotionality in males. This study aims to test for this sex-specific effect in a different cohort, and investigate whether sex differences in fetal programming may be specific to glucocorticoid mechanisms by also examining a maternal salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) by sex interaction.
88 pregnant women (mean gestational age=27.4 weeks, SD=7.4) collected saliva samples at home over two working days to be assayed for the hormone cortisol (range=0.13-88.22nmol/l) and the enzyme alpha-amylase (range=4.57-554.8units/ml). Samples were collected at waking, 30-min post-waking and 12h post-waking. Two months after birth participants reported infant negative emotionality using the distress to limits subscale of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire.
The interaction between maternal prenatal cortisol and infant sex to predict distress to limits approached significance (p=0.067). In line with our previous finding there was a positive association between prenatal cortisol and negative emotionality in females, and a negative association in males. The interaction between sAA and sex to predict distress was significant (p=0.025), and the direction of effect was the same as for the cortisol data; high sAA associated with increased negative emotionality in females and reduced negative emotionality in males.
In line with our previous findings, this research adds to an emerging body of literature, which suggests that fetal programming mechanisms may be sex-dependent. This is the first study to demonstrate that maternal prenatal sAA may be an important biomarker for infant behavior, and the findings have implications for understanding sex differences in developmental psychopathology.
胎儿编程是指环境刺激可以改变胎儿的发育，这可能对孩子产生长期影响。我们最近报告称，母体产前皮质醇以性别依赖的方式预测婴儿的负面情绪：高产前皮质醇与女性的负面情绪增加有关，与男性的负面情绪减少有关。本研究旨在通过测试另一个队列中的这种性别特异性效应，并通过检查母体唾液α-淀粉酶（sAA）的性别交互作用，来研究胎儿编程中的性别差异是否特定于糖皮质激素机制。
88 名孕妇（平均妊娠年龄=27.4 周，标准差=7.4）在两个工作日内在家中采集唾液样本，以测定激素皮质醇（范围=0.13-88.22nmol/l）和酶α-淀粉酶（范围=4.57-554.8units/ml）。样本在醒来时、醒来后 30 分钟和醒来后 12 小时采集。婴儿出生后两个月，参与者使用婴儿行为问卷的“痛苦极限”子量表报告婴儿的负面情绪。
母体产前皮质醇与婴儿性别的交互作用预测“痛苦极限”接近显著（p=0.067）。与我们之前的发现一致，在女性中，产前皮质醇与负面情绪呈正相关，而在男性中呈负相关。sAA 与性别的交互作用预测“痛苦极限”显著（p=0.025），效应的方向与皮质醇数据相同；高 sAA 与女性的负面情绪增加和男性的负面情绪减少有关。
与我们之前的发现一致，这项研究增加了一个新兴的文献，这表明胎儿编程机制可能是性别依赖的。这是第一项表明母体产前 sAA 可能是婴儿行为重要生物标志物的研究，研究结果对理解发育性精神病理学中的性别差异具有重要意义。
