Perinatal effects on in vivo measures of human brain serotonin synthesis in adulthood: A 27-year longitudinal study

Booij, Linda; Benkelfat, Chawki; Leyton, Marco; Vitaro, Frank; Gravel, Paul; Lévesque, Mélissa L.; Arseneault, Louise; Diksic, Mirko; Tremblay, Richard E.

doi:10.1016/j.euroneuro.2011.11.002

« Previous Next »European Neuropsychopharmacology
Volume 22, Issue 6 , Pages 419-423, June 2012

Perinatal effects on in vivo measures of human brain serotonin synthesis in adulthood: A 27-year longitudinal study

Linda Booij
- Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Corresponding author at: Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Center, University of Montreal, 3175 Chemin Côte Ste-Catherine, Montreal, (QC), Canada, H3T1C5. Tel.: +1 514 345 4931x4041; fax: +1 514 345 2176.
Chawki Benkelfat
- Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- McConnell Brain Imaging Center, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Share senior authorship.
Marco Leyton
- Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- McConnell Brain Imaging Center, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Frank Vitaro
- Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- School of Psycho-education, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Paul Gravel
- Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Mélissa L. Lévesque
- Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Louise Arseneault
- Institute of Psychiatry, London, United Kingdom
Mirko Diksic
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- McConnell Brain Imaging Center, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Richard E. Tremblay
- Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Departments of Psychology and Pediatrics, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- School of Public Health and Population Sciences, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
- Share senior authorship.

Received 10 February 2011; received in revised form 28 June 2011; accepted 14 November 2011. published online 19 January 2012.

Abstract

There is an increasing evidence that prenatal and early postnatal stressors have life long impacts on physical and mental health problems. Animal studies have shown that this could include enduring changes to brain serotonin neurotransmission. In the present study, we tested whether perinatal adversity in humans has a long-term impact on brain serotonin neurotransmission in adulthood. Twenty-six healthy males, recruited from a 27-year longitudinal study, underwent a positron emission tomography scan with the tracer alpha-[¹¹C]methyl-l-tryptophan (¹¹C-AMT), as an index of serotonin synthesis capacity. The trapping constant is taken as a proxy for the regional 5-HT synthesis.

Birth complications, especially a delivery where the fetus showed signs of physiological distress, predicted lower ¹¹C-AMT trapping in the hippocampus and medial orbitofrontal cortex. Lower ¹¹C-AMT trapping in the medial orbitofrontal cortex was also predicted by maternal smoking and lower birth weight. There were no effects of childhood or recent adversity. This is the first human study reporting associations between perinatal adversity and adult ¹¹C-AMT trapping in the hippocampus and medial orbitofrontal cortex. The associations suggest that limbic serotonin pathways may be particularly vulnerable to environmental challenges during the period when they undergo the most prominent neurodevelopmental changes. In combination with other risk factors, perinatal stressors may contribute to increased vulnerability for psychiatric disorders in which serotonin plays a major role.

Keywords: Serotonin, Brain development, Adversity, Stress, Neuro-imaging, Emotion regulation