Rovnaghi Cynthia R, Singhal Kratika, Leib Ryan D, Xenochristou Maria, Aghaeepour Nima, Chien Allis S, Ruiz Monica O, Dinakarpandian Deendayal, Anand Kanwaljeet J S
Child Wellness Lab, Maternal & Child Health Research Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA.
Stanford University Mass Spectrometry (SUMS) Lab, Stanford University, Stanford, CA.
Psych. 2024 Mar;6(1):143-162. doi: 10.3390/psych6010009. Epub 2024 Jan 29.
(1)Early childhood experiences have long-lasting effects on subsequent mental and physical health, education, and employment. Measurement of these effects relies on insensitive behavioral signs, subjective assessments by adult observers, neuroimaging or neurophysiological studies, or retrospective epidemiologic outcomes. Despite intensive search, the underlying mechanisms for these long-term changes in development and health status remain unknown.
(2)We analyzed scalp hair from healthy children and their mothers using an unbiased proteomics platform using tandem mass spectrometry, ultra-performance liquid chromatography, and collision induced dissociation to reveal commonly observed hair proteins with spectral count of 3 or higher.
(3)We observed 1368 non-structural hair proteins in children, 1438 non-structural hair proteins in mothers, with 1288 proteins showing individual variability. Mothers showed higher numbers of peptide spectral matches and hair proteins compared to children, with important age-related differences between mothers and children. Age-related differences were also observed in children, with differential protein expression patterns between younger (2 years and below) and older children (3-5 years). We observed greater similarity in hair protein patterns between mothers and their biological children as compared to mothers and unrelated children. The top 5% proteins driving population variability represent biological pathways associated with brain development, immune signaling, and stress response regulation.
(4)Non-structural proteins observed in scalp hair include promising biomarkers to investigate the long-term developmental changes and health status associated with early childhood experiences.
（1）幼儿期经历对后续的身心健康、教育和就业有着持久影响。对这些影响的测量依赖于不敏感的行为迹象、成年观察者的主观评估、神经成像或神经生理学研究，或回顾性流行病学结果。尽管进行了深入研究，但发育和健康状况这些长期变化的潜在机制仍然未知。
（2）我们使用串联质谱、超高效液相色谱和碰撞诱导解离的无偏蛋白质组学平台，分析了健康儿童及其母亲的头皮毛发，以揭示光谱计数为3或更高的常见毛发蛋白质。
（3）我们在儿童中观察到1368种非结构毛发蛋白质，在母亲中观察到1438种非结构毛发蛋白质，其中1288种蛋白质表现出个体差异。与儿童相比，母亲的肽谱匹配数和毛发蛋白质数量更多，母亲和儿童之间存在重要的年龄相关差异。在儿童中也观察到了年龄相关差异，年龄较小（2岁及以下）和较大儿童（3 - 5岁）之间存在不同的蛋白质表达模式。与母亲和非亲生子女相比，我们观察到母亲与其亲生子女的毛发蛋白质模式更为相似。驱动群体差异的前5%蛋白质代表了与大脑发育、免疫信号和应激反应调节相关的生物学途径。
（4）在头皮毛发中观察到的非结构蛋白质包括有前景的生物标志物，可用于研究与幼儿期经历相关的长期发育变化和健康状况。
