The effects of early life stressors on the developing infant can be severe. These effects include, but are not limited to, disordered attachment behavior in childhood, behavioral problems throughout childhood and adolescence, and increased risk for developing psychiatric illnesses later in life. Recent work in monkey models of early life stress suggests that the timing of the stressor is of paramount importance in determining the exact nature of the long-term behavioral disturbances. In monkeys, when stress is experienced at one-week of age, a pattern of decreased social affiliation and increased anxious behaviors develops that is not unlike children with the inhibited form of reactive attachment disorder. Conversely, if the stress is experienced at one-month of age, a pattern of increased social affiliation and increased anxious behaviors develops that resembles children with the disinhibited form of reactive attachment disorder. The work presented in this thesis describes two more features in this monkey model that depend on the timing of the early life stress. First, analysis of the acute behavioral response to the early life stress indicates that infants experiencing this stress at one-week of age immediately respond by increasing their level of nonsocial contact comforting behaviors, while infants experiencing the stress at one-month of age immediately respond by increasing their level of social comforting behaviors. It will be shown that the levels of each of these behaviors can predict aspects of the longer term behavior when measured between two and three months of age in their social rearing group environments. Next, it will be shown that gene expression in the amygdala, a brain region that controls socioemotional behaviors, also critically depends on the age at which early life stress is experienced. Furthermore, the expression of Guanylate Cyclase 1 รก 3 in this brain region will be shown to correlate with certain differing aspects of behavior again measured between two and three months of age. Collectively, these studies may offer clues in determining very early which children are at risk for psychopathology following early life stress, and represent early work in determining a potential therapeutic target for the risks that ensue.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-07212006-153704 |
| Date | 21 July 2006 |
| Creators | Sabatini, Michael Joseph |
| Contributors | David A. Lewis, Karoly Mirnics, Pat Levitt, Judy L. Cameron, Brian Davis, A. Paula Monaghan |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-07212006-153704/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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