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The impact of early adverse care on HPA axis development: nonhuman primate models
1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. sanchez@rmy.emory.edu
Insights
Early disruptions in mother-infant relationships, like maltreatment, are key risks for psychopathology. Nonhuman primate models help understand these early adverse experiences and their long-term effects in humans.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Primatology
Background:
- Early mother-infant relationship disruptions are linked to psychopathology.
- Adverse early experiences pose significant risks for development.
- Nonhuman primate models offer insights into human developmental trajectories.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review evidence linking early adverse caregiving in primates to psychopathology.
- To identify key factors influencing vulnerability to early life stress.
- To highlight the utility of nonhuman primate models in studying developmental psychopathology.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing research on primate models of early adversity.
- Longitudinal studies examining biobehavioral alterations.
- Controlled experimental conditions and invasive approaches in nonhuman primates.
Main Results:
- Early maltreatment and relationship disruptions are risk factors for psychopathology.
- Factors like timing, duration, social support, sex, and genetics modulate outcomes.
- Primate models allow detailed study of developmental effects of adversity.
Conclusions:
- Nonhuman primate models are crucial for understanding human psychopathology origins.
- These models facilitate research on the causes and consequences of early adversity.
- Controlled studies in primates are essential for ethical and feasible research on developmental risks.
Abstract:
This review presents supporting evidence that early disruptions in mother-infant relationship in primates, including infant maltreatment, are important risk factors for the development of psychopathology and pathophysiology during childhood and adolescence. Current research in this field is trying to identify important aspects of early adverse experiences such as the timing, frequency, duration, "perceived" intensity of the stressful or traumatic events, the role of social support (e.g., nurturing caregiver) in buffering the deleterious outcomes of early adversity, as well as the role of sex and genetic factors on individual variability in vulnerability. The use of nonhuman primate models of early adverse caregiving is helping to put the pieces of the puzzle together to fully understand the causes and consequences of similar experiences in humans. These models are essential to characterize the time course of biobehavioral alterations throughout development, using prospective, longitudinal studies performed under controlled experimental conditions and using invasive approaches that are unrealistic and unethical when studying human populations.
