Colleen F. Moore

The impact of prenatal stress, fetal alcohol exposure, or both on development: perspectives from a primate model

The question of whether psychosocial stress during pregnancy (alone or in combination with fetal alcohol exposure) has negative consequences for offspring has not been clearly established in human studies. In this article, we present an overview of three prospective longitudinal studies. Using rhesus monkeys as subjects, a noise or hormone stressor, alone or in combination with moderate level alcohol solution, was presented daily during different stages of pregnancy. Prenatal stress resulted in lighter birth weights in two of three studies, and males from the alcohol plus noise stress condition had reduced birth weights. There were no significant effects of any of the prenatal treatments on gestation duration. Both prenatal stress and moderate fetal alcohol exposure reduced attention span and neuromotor capabilities of offspring during the first month of life, while early gestation prenatal stress, during the period of neuronal migration, emerged as a period of enhanced vulnerability for these effects. Under conditions of challenge, prenatally stressed monkeys showed more disturbance behaviors and reduced locomotion and exploration as well as altered hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis reactivity to stress. Fetal alcohol exposed monkeys also showed increased HPA axis activity in response to stressful conditions. Finally, altered patterns of alcohol consumption during adolescence were associated with prenatal stress.

Environmental Attitudes as Predictors of Policy Support across Three Countries

Stephen Kellert’s typology of attitudes and Dunlap and Van Liere’s New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) Scale represent two different approaches to environmental attitudes. Both approaches were used to predict policy support for environmental protection among college students in Trinidad, the Dominican Republic, and the United States. Results showed country and gender differences in the strength of environmental attitudes. Trinidadians showed the strongest proenvironmental attitudes on the NEP, and both Trinidadians and Dominicans showed stronger proenvironmental attitudes than Americans as indicated by both the NEP and the moralistic/aesthetic items derived from Kellert’s typology. The different attitude measures were differentially predictive of policy support in the three countries. Overall, the best predictors of support for environmentally protective policies were the NEP and Kellert’s Utilitarian factor. These results support the notion that combining the Kellert approach with Dunlap and Van Liere’s NEP does increase the predictability of environmental policy support.

Time, Uncertainty, and Individual Differences in Decisions to Cooperate in Resource Dilemmas

Many environmental problems are resource dilemmas that contain two components–social and temporal–that encourage individuals not to act in the best interest of the group. Most research has focused on the social component. The authors examined the importance of the temporal component in two resource dilemma tasks. Participants (N = 112) reported their willingness to limit resource consumption in response to hypothetical dilemmas and forfeited extra credit points in response to a real dilemma. Cooperation rates were higher when the temporal dilemma was diminished, when uncertainty about environmental impacts was low, and for women. Individuals high in both proenvironmentalism and consideration of future consequences sustained high levels of cooperation even in the face of strong temporal dilemmas.

The Developmental Role of Intuitive Principles in Choosing Mathematical Strategies

This study investigated the relation between the development of understanding principles that govern a problem and the development ofmathematical strategies used to solve it. College students and 2nd, 5th, 8th, and I lth graders predicted the resulting temperature when 2 containers of water were combined. Students first estimated answers to the problems and then solved the problems using math. The pattern of estimated answers provided a measure of the intuitive understanding of task principles. Developmental differences in intuitive understanding were related to the type of math strategy students used. Analysis of individual data patterns showed that understanding an intuitive principle was necessary but not sufficient to generate a math strategy consistent with that principle. Implications for the development of problem solving are discussed. Current models of problem solving propose that a persons conceptual or intuitive understanding is an important factor in solving a problem with formal methods such as mathematics. Conceptual or intuitive understanding involves the qualitative representation of the relevant relations among variables in a task. We call this type of understanding intuitive, following Brunswik (1956) and Hammond (1982; Hammond, Harem,

Development of intuitive and numerical proportional reasoning

Abstract The relationship between intuitive and numerical proportional reasoning was examined using a temperature-mixing task with fifth graders, eighth graders, and college students. In the intuitive task the temperatures and quantities were described verbally, whereas in the numerical task, numbers were used and subjects were instructed to try to use math. Half the subjects were given the intuitive version first, and half were given the numerical version first. To the extent that subjects are capable of using their intuitive knowledge to direct their numerical performance, performing the intuitive version first should make intuitive knowledge more salient and improve performance on the numerical task. Performance in the numerical condition depended on the task-order manipulation, but performance in the intuitive condition was almost the same in the two task orders. Five components were used to generate a profile representing each persons performance on each task version. Subjects were grouped according to the degree of similarity of their component profiles to several hypothesized, qualitatively different prototype patterns. This “fuzzy set” analysis showed that the frequencies of subjects showing different patterns varied across versions of the task and were age related. Performing the intuitive version first decreased the likelihood that numerical temperature would be treated as an extensive rather than an intensive quantity. A theoretical framework is outlined for the relationship between intuitive and numerical task performance.

Sensory Processing Disorder in a Primate Model: Evidence From a Longitudinal Study of Prenatal Alcohol and Prenatal Stress Effects

Disrupted sensory processing, characterized by over- or underresponsiveness to environmental stimuli, has been reported in children with a variety of developmental disabilities. This study examined the effects of prenatal stress and moderate-level prenatal alcohol exposure on tactile sensitivity and its relationship to striatal dopamine system function in thirty-eight 5- to 7-year-old rhesus monkeys. The monkeys were from four experimental conditions: (a) prenatal alcohol exposed, (b) prenatal stress, (c) prenatal alcohol exposed + prenatal stress, and (d) sucrose controls. Increased D(2) receptor binding in the striatum, evaluated using positron emission tomography neuroimaging, was related to increased withdrawal (aversion) responses to repetitive tactile stimuli and reduced habituation across trials. Moreover, prenatal stress significantly increased overall withdrawal responses to repetitive tactile stimulation compared to no prenatal stress.

Moderate Level Fetal Alcohol Exposure and Serotonin Transporter Gene Promoter Polymorphism Affect Neonatal Temperament and Limbic-Hypothalamic- Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Regulation in Monkeys

BACKGROUND A length polymorphism in the serotonin (5-HT) transporter gene promoter region in humans and rhesus monkeys affects functional characteristics of the brain 5-HT system. Prenatal alcohol exposure (FA-exposure) can have an impact on brain and psychosocial development that could interact with genetic endowment. This study determined whether moderate FA-exposure interacts with polymorphism in the 5-HT transporter gene to increase the incidence or severity of fetal alcohol effects in rhesus monkeys. METHODS The offspring of monkeys who did or did not consume moderate amounts of alcohol during pregnancy were assessed for temperament as neonates and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol (CORT) in response to mother-infant separation at 6 months of age. Serotonin promoter region genotypes (homozygous s/s or heterozygous s/l versus homozygous l/l) were determined. RESULTS Prenatal alcohol exposed carriers of the s allele exhibited increased neonatal irritability and increased ACTH and CORT compared with FA-exposed monkeys homozygous for the l allele and monkeys that were not FA-exposed regardless of genotype. CONCLUSIONS The s allele of the 5-HT transporter increases the probability of neonatal irritability and increased stress responsiveness in FA-exposed monkeys, and this gene-environment interaction may affect psychosocial development. It is probable that FA-exposure contributes to 5-HT transporter gene-environment interactions in humans.

Prenatal Stress Alters Early Neurobehavior, Stress Reactivity and Learning in Non-human Primates: A Brief Review

In this paper we review three prospective longitudinal studies from our laboratory examining the effects of prenatal stress on early neurobehavior, stress reactivity and learning performance in rhesus monkeys. Either a noise stressor or ACTH treatment was administered to pregnant monkeys during specific periods of pregnancy and offspring were examined repeatedly across development. In all three studies, the prenatally stressed monkeys showed reduced attention and impaired neuromotor functioning during the first month of life compared to controls from undisturbed pregnancies. When the monkeys were separated from their mothers or peers at 6–8 months of age, prenatally stressed monkeys exhibited more disturbance behavior and showed hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysregulation. During adolescence, they exhibited impairments in learning, compared to controls.

Moderate Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and Serotonin Genotype Interact to Alter CNS Serotonin Function in Rhesus Monkey Offspring

BACKGROUND Moderate prenatal alcohol exposure can contribute to neurodevelopmental impairments and disrupt several neurotransmitter systems. We examined the timing of moderate level alcohol exposure, serotonin transporter gene polymorphic region variation (rh5-HTTLPR), and levels of primary serotonin and dopamine (DA) metabolites in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in rhesus monkeys. METHODS Thirty-two 30-month old rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) from 4 groups of females were assessed: (i) early alcohol-exposed group (n = 9), in which mothers voluntarily consumed 0.6 g/kg/d alcohol solution on gestational days 0 to 50; (ii) middle-to-late gestation alcohol-exposed group (n = 6), mothers consumed 0.6 g/kg/d alcohol solution on gestational days 50 to 135; (iii) a continuous-exposure group (n = 8), mothers consumed 0.6 g/kg/d alcohol solution on gestational days 0 to 135; and (iv) controls (n = 9), mothers consumed an isocaloric control solution on gestational days 0 to 50, 50 to 135, or 0 to 135. Serotonin transporter promoter region allelic variants (homozygous s/s or heterozygous s/l vs. homozygous l/l) were determined. We examined CSF concentrations of the 5-HT and DA metabolites, 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) and homovanillic acid (HVA), respectively, at baseline and 50 hours after separation from cage-mates, when the monkeys were 30 months old. RESULTS Early- and middle-to-late gestation-alcohol exposed monkeys carrying the short allele had lower concentrations of 5-HIAA in CSF relative to other groups. Concentrations of 5-HIAA in CSF were lower for s allele carriers and increased from baseline relative to pre-separation values, whereas 5-HIAA levels in l/l allele carriers were not affected by separation. Monkeys carrying the short allele had lower basal concentrations of HVA in CSF compared with monkeys homozygous for the long allele. CONCLUSION Carrying the s allele of the 5-HT transporter increased the probability of reduced 5-HIAA in early- and middle-to-late gestation alcohol-exposed monkeys and reduced HVA at baseline. These findings that prenatal alcohol exposure altered central 5-HT activity in genetically sensitive monkeys raise questions about whether abnormal serotonin biological pathways could underlie some of the psychiatric disorders reported in fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

Serotonin Transporter Genotype Affects Serotonin 5-HT1A Binding in Primates

Disruption of the serotonin system has been implicated in anxiety and depression and a related genetic variation has been identified that may predispose individuals for these illnesses. The relationship of a functional variation of the serotonin transporter promoter gene (5-HTTLPR) on serotonin transporter binding using in vivo imaging techniques have yielded inconsistent findings when comparing variants for short (s) and long (l) alleles. However, a significant 5-HTTLPR effect on receptor binding at the 5-HT1A receptor site has been reported in humans, suggesting the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism may play a role in serotonin (5-HT) function. Rhesus monkeys possess a 5-HTTLPR length polymorphism similar to humans and serve as an excellent model for studying the effects of this orthologous genetic variation on behaviors and neurochemical functions related to the 5-HT system. In this study, PET imaging of [18F]mefway was performed on 58 rhesus monkeys (33 l/l, 25 s-carriers) to examine the relation between 5-HT1A receptor-specific binding and 5-HTTLPR genotypes. Significantly lower 5-HT1A binding was found in s-carrier subjects throughout both cortical brain regions and the raphe nuclei. These results demonstrate that the underlying 5-HT neurochemical system is influenced by this functional polymorphism and illustrate the strong potential for extending the nonhuman primate model into investigating the role of this genetic variant on behavior and gene–environment interactions.