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Lee JY, Lee HJ, Jang YH, Kim H, Im K, Yang S, Hoh JK, Ahn JH. Maternal pre-pregnancy obesity affects the uncinate fasciculus white matter tract in preterm infants. Front Pediatr 2023; 11:1225960. [PMID: 38034827 PMCID: PMC10684693 DOI: 10.3389/fped.2023.1225960] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2023] [Accepted: 10/23/2023] [Indexed: 12/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Background A growing body of evidence suggests an association between a higher maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and adverse long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes for their offspring. Despite recent attention to the effects of maternal obesity on fetal and neonatal brain development, changes in the brain microstructure of preterm infants born to mothers with pre-pregnancy obesity are still not well understood. This study aimed to detect the changes in the brain microstructure of obese mothers in pre-pregnancy and their offspring born as preterm infants using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Methods A total of 32 preterm infants (born to 16 mothers with normal BMI and 16 mothers with a high BMI) at <32 weeks of gestation without brain injury underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging at term-equivalent age (TEA). The BMI of all pregnant women was measured within approximately 12 weeks before pregnancy or the first 2 weeks of gestation. We analyzed the brain volume using a morphologically adaptive neonatal tissue segmentation toolbox and calculated the major white matter (WM) tracts using probabilistic maps of the Johns Hopkins University neonatal atlas. We investigated the differences in brain volume and WM microstructure between preterm infants of mothers with normal and high BMI. The DTI parameters were compared among groups using analysis of covariance adjusted for postmenstrual age at scan and multiple comparisons. Results Preterm infants born to mothers with a high BMI showed significantly increased cortical gray matter volume (p = 0.001) and decreased WM volume (p = 0.003) after controlling for postmenstrual age and multiple comparisons. We found a significantly lower axial diffusivity in the uncinate fasciculus (UNC) in mothers with high BMI than that in mothers with normal BMI (1.690 ± 0.066 vs. 1.762 ± 0.101, respectively; p = 0.005). Conclusion Our study is the first to demonstrate that maternal obesity impacts perinatal brain development patterns in preterm infants at TEA, even in the absence of apparent brain injury. These findings provide evidence for the detrimental effects of maternal obesity on brain developmental trajectories in offspring and suggest potential neurodevelopmental outcomes based on an altered UNC WM microstructure, which is known to be critical for language and social-emotional functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joo Young Lee
- Department of Translational Medicine, Hanyang University Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Hyun Ju Lee
- Department of Pediatrics, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- Division of Neonatology and Development Medicine, Hanyang University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Yong Hun Jang
- Department of Translational Medicine, Hanyang University Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Hyuna Kim
- Department of Translational Medicine, Hanyang University Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Kiho Im
- Fetal Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
- Division of Newborn Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Seung Yang
- Department of Pediatrics, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- Department of Pediatrics, Hanyang University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Jeong-Kyu Hoh
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hanyang University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Ja-Hye Ahn
- Department of Pediatrics, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- Division of Neonatology and Development Medicine, Hanyang University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea
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Choy KHC, Luo JK, Wannan CMJ, Laskaris L, Merritt A, Syeda WT, Sexton PM, Christopoulos A, Pantelis C, Nithianantharajah J. Cognitive behavioral markers of neurodevelopmental trajectories in rodents. Transl Psychiatry 2021; 11:556. [PMID: 34718322 PMCID: PMC8557208 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-021-01662-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2021] [Revised: 09/13/2021] [Accepted: 09/27/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Between adolescence and adulthood, the brain critically undergoes maturation and refinement of synaptic and neural circuits that shape cognitive processing. Adolescence also represents a vulnerable period for the onset of symptoms in neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorders. Despite the wide use of rodent models to unravel neurobiological mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental disorders, there is a surprising paucity of rigorous studies focusing on normal cognitive-developmental trajectories in such models. Here, we sought to behaviorally capture maturational changes in cognitive trajectories during adolescence and into adulthood in male and female mice using distinct behavioral paradigms. C57 BL/6J mice (4.5, 6, and 12 weeks of age) were assessed on three behavioral paradigms: drug-induced locomotor hyperactivity, prepulse inhibition, and a novel validated version of a visuospatial paired-associate learning touchscreen task. We show that the normal maturational trajectories of behavioral performance on these paradigms are dissociable. Responses in drug-induced locomotor hyperactivity and prepulse inhibition both displayed a 'U-shaped' developmental trajectory; lower during mid-adolescence relative to early adolescence and adulthood. In contrast, visuospatial learning and memory, memory retention, and response times indicative of motivational processing progressively improved with age. Our study offers a framework to investigate how insults at different developmental stages might perturb normal trajectories in cognitive development. We provide a brain maturational approach to understand resilience factors of brain plasticity in the face of adversity and to examine pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions directed at ameliorating or rescuing perturbed trajectories in neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- K. H. Christopher Choy
- grid.1002.30000 0004 1936 7857Drug Discovery Biology, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC Australia
| | - Jiaqi K. Luo
- grid.418025.a0000 0004 0606 5526The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne, VIC Australia ,grid.1008.90000 0001 2179 088XDepartment of Florey Neuroscience, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC Australia
| | - Cassandra M. J. Wannan
- grid.1008.90000 0001 2179 088XMelbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC Australia
| | - Liliana Laskaris
- grid.1008.90000 0001 2179 088XMelbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC Australia
| | - Antonia Merritt
- grid.1008.90000 0001 2179 088XMelbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC Australia
| | - Warda T. Syeda
- grid.1008.90000 0001 2179 088XMelbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC Australia
| | - Patrick M. Sexton
- grid.1002.30000 0004 1936 7857Drug Discovery Biology, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC Australia ,grid.1002.30000 0004 1936 7857ARC Centre for Cryo-electron Microscopy of Membrane Proteins, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC Australia
| | - Arthur Christopoulos
- Drug Discovery Biology, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. .,ARC Centre for Cryo-electron Microscopy of Membrane Proteins, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
| | - Christos Pantelis
- The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. .,Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
| | - Jess Nithianantharajah
- The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia. .,Department of Florey Neuroscience, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
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