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Adverse caregiving in infancy blunts neural processing of the mother

Maya Opendak1,2, Emma Theisen3, Anna Blomkvist4,5

  • 1Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, NYU Langone Health, New York, NY, 10016, USA. maya.opendak@nyulangone.org.

Nature Communications
|March 1, 2020
PubMed

Insights

Early life adversity impacts infant brain development and parent-infant interactions. This study reveals how stress affects neurobiological responses to maternal care, offering potential biomarkers for psychopathology.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Psychopathology

Background:

  • Psychopathology often originates in infancy, influenced by parent-infant interactions and adversity.
  • Neurobiological links between early adversity, parent-infant bonding, and psychopathology remain unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the neurobiological mechanisms by which early life adversity affects infant responses to maternal care.
  • To identify potential early biomarkers for later-life psychopathology.

Main Methods:

  • Assessed rat pup cortical local field potentials (LFPs) and behaviors during separation-reunion with the mother.
  • Examined the impact of maternal rough versus nurturing handling on pups exposed to adversity.
  • Blocked pup stress hormones during adversity or reunion to observe effects on neurobehavioral outcomes.

Main Results:

  • Adversity-exposed pups showed decreased cortical LFP dynamic range during nurturing maternal behaviors.
  • These pups exhibited aberrant mother interactions and blunted cortical LFPs during reunion.
  • Stress hormone blockade normalized behavior, LFP power, and cross-frequency coupling.

Conclusions:

  • Adversity-rearing induces stress-related aberrant neurobehavioral processing of the mother in pups.
  • These altered responses may serve as an early biomarker for later-life psychopathology.
  • This translational model highlights the critical role of early experiences in shaping stress-response systems and social behavior.

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