Maternal support in early childhood predicts larger hippocampal volumes at school age.
Journal Article (Journal Article)
Early maternal support has been shown to promote specific gene expression, neurogenesis, adaptive stress responses, and larger hippocampal volumes in developing animals. In humans, a relationship between psychosocial factors in early childhood and later amygdala volumes based on prospective data has been demonstrated, providing a key link between early experience and brain development. Although much retrospective data suggests a link between early psychosocial factors and hippocampal volumes in humans, to date there has been no prospective data to inform this potentially important public health issue. In a longitudinal study of depressed and healthy preschool children who underwent neuroimaging at school age, we investigated whether early maternal support predicted later hippocampal volumes. Maternal support observed in early childhood was strongly predictive of hippocampal volume measured at school age. The positive effect of maternal support on hippocampal volumes was greater in nondepressed children. These findings provide prospective evidence in humans of the positive effect of early supportive parenting on healthy hippocampal development, a brain region key to memory and stress modulation.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Luby, JL; Barch, DM; Belden, A; Gaffrey, MS; Tillman, R; Babb, C; Nishino, T; Suzuki, H; Botteron, KN
Published Date
- February 2012
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 109 / 8
Start / End Page
- 2854 - 2859
PubMed ID
- 22308421
Pubmed Central ID
- PMC3286943
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1091-6490
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 0027-8424
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1073/pnas.1118003109
Language
- eng