Duke University School of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Durham, NC, USA; University of Turku, Department of Clinical Medicine, Turku Brain and Mind Center, FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study, Finland; University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Finland.
Aalto University, Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Finland; Aalto University, Department of Mathematics and Systems Analysis, Finland.
J Affect Disord. 2024 Jul 1;356:177-189. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.03.092. Epub 2024 Mar 18.
Touch is an essential form of mother-child interaction, instigating better social bonding and emotional stability.
We used diffuse optical tomography to explore the relationship between total haemoglobin (HbT) responses to affective touch in the child's brain at two years of age and maternal self-reported prenatal depressive symptoms (EPDS). Affective touch was implemented via slow brushing of the child's right forearm at 3 cm/s and non-affective touch via fast brushing at 30 cm/s and HbT responses were recorded on the left hemisphere.
We discovered a cluster in the postcentral gyrus exhibiting a negative correlation (Pearson's r = -0.84, p = 0.015 corrected for multiple comparisons) between child HbT response to affective touch and EPDS at gestational week 34. Based on region of interest (ROI) analysis, we found negative correlations between child responses to affective touch and maternal prenatal EPDS at gestational week 14 in the precentral gyrus, Rolandic operculum and secondary somatosensory cortex. The responses to non-affective touch did not correlate with EPDS in these regions.
The number of mother-child dyads was 16. However, by utilising high-density optode arrangements, individualised anatomical models, and video and accelerometry to monitor movement, we were able to minimize methodological sources of variability in the data.
The results show that maternal depressive symptoms during pregnancy may be associated with reduced child responses to affective touch in the temporoparietal cortex. Responses to affective touch may be considered as potential biomarkers for psychosocial development in children. Early identification of and intervention in maternal depression may be important already during early pregnancy.
触摸是母婴互动的一种基本形式，可以促进更好的社交联系和情绪稳定。
我们使用漫射光学断层扫描技术来探索儿童大脑对两岁时的情感触摸的总血红蛋白（HbT）反应与母亲报告的产前抑郁症状（EPDS）之间的关系。情感触摸是通过以 3 厘米/秒的速度缓慢刷孩子的右前臂来实现的，非情感触摸是通过以 30 厘米/秒的速度快速刷来实现的，并且记录了左半球的 HbT 反应。
我们在中央后回中发现了一个簇，表现出孩子对情感触摸的 HbT 反应与妊娠第 34 周时的 EPDS 之间存在负相关（Pearson r=-0.84，p=0.015，经多重比较校正）。基于感兴趣区域（ROI）分析，我们发现在妊娠第 14 周时，中央前回、 Rolandic 瓣和次级体感皮层中，孩子对情感触摸的反应与母亲产前 EPDS 之间存在负相关。在这些区域，非情感触摸的反应与 EPDS 无关。
母亲-儿童对子的数量为 16。但是，通过利用高密度光导排列、个体化解剖模型以及视频和加速度计来监测运动，我们能够最大限度地减少数据中方法学来源的变异性。
结果表明，妊娠期间母亲的抑郁症状可能与儿童对颞顶叶皮质的情感触摸反应减少有关。对情感触摸的反应可以被视为儿童心理社会发展的潜在生物标志物。在妊娠早期就早期识别和干预母亲的抑郁可能已经很重要。
