Prenatal maternal depressive symptoms are associated with smaller amygdalar volumes of four-year-old children

Prenatal maternal depressive symptoms are related to an increased offspring susceptibility to psychiatric disorders over the life course. Alterations in fetal brain development might partly mediate this association. The relation of prenatal depressive symptoms with child's amygdalar volumes is still underexplored, and this study aimed to address this gap. We explored the association of prenatal maternal depressive symptoms with amygdalar volumes in 28 4-year-old children (14 female). Amygdalar volumes were assessed using the volBrain pipeline and manual segmentation. Prenatal depressive symptoms were self-reported by mothers at gestational weeks 14, 24 and 34 (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale). Sex differences were probed, and possible pre- and postnatal confounders, such as maternal general anxiety, were controlled for. We observed that elevated depressive symptoms of the early second trimester, after controlling for prenatal maternal general anxiety, were significantly related to smaller right amygdalar volumes in the whole sample. Higher depressive symptoms of the third trimester were associated with significantly smaller right amygdalar volumes in boys compared to girls. Altogether, our data suggest that offspring limbic brain development might be affected by maternal depressive symptoms in early pregnancy, and might also be more vulnerable to depressive symptoms in late pregnancy in boys compared to girls

Resting-state networks of the neonate brain identified using independent component analysis

Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) has been successfully used to probe the intrinsic functional organization of the brain and to study brain development. Here, we implemented a combination of individual and group independent component analysis (ICA) of FSL on a 6-min resting-state data set acquired from 21 naturally sleeping term-born (age 26 +/- 6.7 d), healthy neonates to investigate the emerging functional resting-state networks (RSNs). In line with the previous literature, we found evidence of sensorimotor, auditory/language, visual, cerebellar, thalmic, parietal, prefrontal, anterior cingulate as well as dorsal and ventral aspects of the default-mode-network. Additionally, we identified RSNs in frontal, parietal, and temporal regions that have not been previously described in this age group and correspond to the canonical RSNs established in adults. Importantly, we found that careful ICA-based denoising of fMRI data increased the number of networks identified with group-ICA, whereas the degree of spatial smoothing did not change the number of identified networks. Our results show that the infant brain has an established set of RSNs soon after birth

Maternal sensitivity at the age of 8 months associates with local connectivity of the medial prefrontal cortex in children at 5 years of age

The quality of mother-child interaction, especially maternal sensitivity in caregiving behavior, plays an important role in a child's later socioemotional development. Numerous studies have indicated associations between poor mother-child interaction and offspring brain structure and function, but more knowledge on how variation in the characteristics of early caregiving is associated with children's brain structure and function is needed. We investigated whether maternal sensitivity at 8 or 30 months is associated with functional connectivity in a child's brain at 5 years of age based on the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study (17 and 39 mother-child dyads at 8 and 30 months, respectively, with an overlap of 13 dyads). Maternal sensitivity was assessed during a free play interaction using the Emotional Availability Scales at 8 and 30 months of the children's age. Task-free functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was acquired at the age of 5 years in 7-min scans while watching the Inscapes movie. Regional homogeneity (ReHo) maps were created from the fMRI data, and multiple regression analysis was performed to assess the relation between maternal sensitivity and ReHo. Maternal sensitivity at the age of 8 months was positively associated with children's ReHo values within the medial prefrontal cortex. Distal connectivity of this region showed no significant association with maternal sensitivity in a seed-based connectivity analysis. No associations were found between maternal sensitivity during toddlerhood and brain functional connectivity. Together, these results suggest that maternal sensitivity, especially in infancy, may influence offspring brain functional connectivity. However, studies with larger sample sizes are warranted

Effects of incubation temperature and maternal phenotype on Baltic herring (Clupea harengus membras) eggs and larvae : An experimental study

Temperature modifies the reproductive success of fish, yet, in many species, we lack the information on its role in the early development. In this study, the effect of temperature on the relation between maternal traits (length, age, somatic condition, and muscle lipid and ovarian thyroid hormone concentrations), egg quality (fertilization success, development rate, mortality, and hatching success), and offspring traits (size-at-hatch, yolk sac size, and proportion of malformations) were studied in Baltic herring (Clupea harengus membras) in the northern Baltic Sea. The experiments were conducted at an ambient temperature of 7°C and at an elevated temperature of 14°C using 5 to 15 females and 3 replicates per female. The results indicate that elevated temperature may result in a faster developmental rate, a lower early-stage mortality and hatching success, smaller size-at-hatch, a larger yolk sac size and a higher amount of larval malformations when compared to an ambient temperature. The egg and offspring traits were also associated with the maternal traits, indicating especially that thyroid hormones play a mediating role in the physiological processes.peerReviewe

Testicular maturation of Oligosarcus hepsetus (Cuvier) (Actinopterygii, Characidae) in a brazilian tropical reservoir

Six reproductive classes of male Oligosarcus hepsetus (Cuvier, 1829), a medium-sized carnivorous Characiform species, are described based on macroscopic and histological techniques. A total of 175 individuals were caught monthly between April 2001 and June 2002 in the Lajes Reservoir, Brazil, one of the largest impoundment areas in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The reproductive classes were based upon changes in the testicular morphology and stages of germinative cells, i.e., resting, early maturing, late maturing, mature, partially spent and totally spent. Fish in the resting class showed testes with spermatogonia and spermatocytes along the wall of seminal lobules, while spermatids were present in the lumina of the lobules. During early maturing, active spermatogenesis occurs throughout the testis; in the late maturing and mature classes, the lobules are swollen with sperm that are typical of fish in breeding condition. Spent testes presented seminal lobules with residual spermatozoa, coinciding with decreasing GSI and greatly reduced sperm production. Overall, the testicular morphology and class of maturity development of O. hepsetus in the Lajes reservoir did not differ significantly from those of closely related species in other lentic environments. Lower GSI values in the oligotrophic Lajes reservoir than in other eutrophic natural lakes suggest that this species may be modifying this aspect of its reproductive strategy in response to the artificial environment