[Blood biochemical changes in maternally deprived children and their emotional status]

Environmental rearing conditions during the neonatal period are critical for the establishment of neurobiological factors controlling behavior and stress responsiveness. Early maternal deprivation in animals consisting of a single 24-h maternal deprivation episode during early neonatal life has been proposed as an animal model for certain psychopathologies including anxiety, depression and schizophrenic-related disorders. The aim of the present research was to show the mechanisms how the early maternal deprivation in humans influences the emotional status of children. To understand the effects of early deprivation on the regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis of children following social interactions, we examined the blood neurotransmitters levels (Norepinefrin NA; Dofamin DF; Serotonin SE) in a group of healthy institutionalized children at age from 6 to 36 months from Tbilisi Infant's House. A group of healthy children of the same age from Mother & child shelters formed the control group. Emotional status was assessed by Leusher's Color Test in a group of healthy institutionalized children at age from 3 to 6 years from Tskneti Orphanage. Institutionalized children showed elevations in blood NE and decreased SE and DF concentrations in comparison with non deprived children's blood. The higher was percentage of children with high level of anxiety in the group of children from orphanage than in the children with family care. The results suggest that early maternal deprivation may contribute to long-term regulatory problems of the stress-responsive system that may be resulted in altered emotionality and behavior in deprived children.