Adverse caregiving in infancy blunts neural processing of the mother: Translating across species

Opendak, M. M.; Theisen, E.; Blomkvist, A.; Hollis, K.; Lind, T.; Sarro, E.; Lundstrom, J. N.; Tottenham, N.; Dozier, M.; Wilson, D.; Sullivan, R.

doi:10.1101/870261

bioRxiv · 10.1101/870261

Adverse caregiving in infancy blunts neural processing of the mother: Translating across species

Opendak, M. M.·Theisen, E.·Blomkvist, A.·Hollis, K.·Lind, T.·Sarro, E.·Lundstrom, J. N.·Tottenham, N.·Dozier, M.·Wilson, D.·Sullivan, R.

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Abstract

The roots of psychopathology frequently take shape during infancy in the context of parent-infant interactions and adversity. Yet, neurobiological mechanisms linking these processes during infancy remain elusive. Here, using responses to attachment figures among infants who experienced adversity as a benchmark, we assessed rat pup cortical Local Field Potentials (LFP) and behaviors exposed to adversity in response to maternal rough and nurturing handling by examining its impact on pup separation-reunion with the mother. We show that during adversity, pup cortical LFP dynamic range decreased during nurturing maternal behaviors, but was minimally impacted by rough handling. During reunion, adversity-experiencing pups showed aberrant interactions with mother and blunted cortical LFP. Blocking pup stress hormone during either adversity or reunion restored typical behavior, LFP power, and cross-frequency coupling. This translational approach suggests adversity-rearing produces a stress-induced aberrant neurobehavioral processing of the mother, which can be used as an early biomarker of later-life pathology.

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Opendak, M. M., Theisen, E., Blomkvist, A., Hollis, K., Lind, T., Sarro, E., Lundstrom, J. N., Tottenham, N., Dozier, M., Wilson, D., Sullivan, R.. 2019-12-10. Adverse caregiving in infancy blunts neural processing of the mother: Translating across species. https://doi.org/10.1101/870261

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