Doctoral Dissertation Research: Effect of intrauterine environment on newborn telomere length

博士论文研究：宫内环境对新生儿端粒长度的影响

• 批准号: 1540372
• 负责人: Connie Mulligan
• 金额: $ 1.88万
• 依托单位: University of Florida
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-08-15 至 2018-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1540372&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Effect; intrauterine

This project will study telomere length in newborns and their mothers, to understand how maternal stress affects infant biology. Telomeres are structures within cells that protect and stabilize the ends of chromosomes and change in length over the life course in response to the environment. The most frequently reported interaction is telomere shortening caused by psychological and psychosocial stress. Shortened telomeres in turn have been associated with numerous diseases including diabetes, heart disease and multiple types of cancer. Some of the most exciting results to emerge recently about the intergenerational effects of maternal stress show evidence that babies exposed in utero tend to exhibit shorter telomere length (TL) at birth. This is particularly salient, as a mother's health during pregnancy has been shown to directly affect the health outcomes of her children not only at birth, but through to adulthood. As chronic stress and stress-mediated diseases are becoming increasingly prevalent in our country, the idea that trauma and stress exposure during pregnancy can create changes in a child's health outcomes, potentially through shorter telomeres at birth, has immediate public health relevance. The project will also support student training and international collaborations. In this study the investigators will measure the TL of 100 new mothers and babies from the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a region where war has raged for 17 years, and violence is often utilized as a systematic military tactic to intimidate the civilian population. These conditions make eastern DRC among the most stressful and traumatic environments for women to live in worldwide. By incorporating novel measures of war stress gathered via comprehensive ethnographic interviews, the hypothesis that extreme traumatic stress experienced during fetal development is associated with shortened newborn TL will be tested. Alternatively, the discovery of an association between stress and longer telomeres could suggest a pre-adaptation for life in a highly stressful environment. Finally, there is evidence that telomere attrition can be slowed by certain lifestyle changes; follow-ups will be scheduled with the children in the study to allow for TL to be measured longitudinally.

该项目将研究新生儿及其母亲的端粒长度，以了解孕产妇的压力如何影响婴儿生物学。 端粒是细胞内的结构，可保护和稳定染色体的末端并在生命过程中响应环境而变化。最常报告的相互作用是由心理和社会心理压力引起的端粒缩短。缩短的端粒又与许多疾病有关，包括糖尿病，心脏病和多种类型的癌症。最近出现的一些关于母体压力的代际作用的最令人兴奋的结果表明，在出生时暴露于子宫内的婴儿倾向于表现出更短的端粒长度（TL）。 这尤其重要，因为已经证明，母亲的健康状况直接影响了她的孩子的健康状况，不仅在出生时，而且直至成年。随着慢性压力和压力介导的疾病在我国变得越来越普遍，怀孕期间的创伤和压力暴露会导致儿童健康成果发生变化，这可能是通过出生时短的端粒而产生的，这是立即的公共卫生相关性。该项目还将支持学生培训和国际合作。在这项研究中，调查人员将衡量来自刚果民主共和国（DRC）的100个新母亲和婴儿的TL，该地区战争已经肆虐了17年，暴力经常被用作系统的军事策略来恐吓平民。这些条件使东刚果民主共和国是妇女居住在全球的压力最大，最创伤的环境。通过结合通过全面的人种学访谈收集的战争压力的新颖措施，将测试胎儿发育过程中极端的创伤压力与新生儿TL相关的假设。另外，在高度压力的环境中发现压力和较长的端粒之间的关联可能表明生命的预先适应。最后，有证据表明，某些生活方式的改变可以减慢端粒损耗。在研究中将与儿童进行随访，以允许纵向测量TL。