Prior research by our laboratory has demonstrated that stressful events experienced by the pregnant female monkey can affect her fetus and alter the development of several important immune responses in her young infant. The proposed studies will further investigate the relative vulnerability of the fetus by assessing the long-term effects of prenatal disturbance on immune responses and disease susceptibility during the first year of life. This research will also extend previous observations of a differential vulnerability of male and female infants. Immune assessment of the infant rhesus monkeys will focus on the development of lymphocyte cytotoxic responses, circulating levels of various cell subsets, and antibody responses. The potential clinical significance of the physiological alterations induced by prenatal disturbance will be evaluated by determining the infant's antibody responses to Haemophilus influenzae vaccination and, at an older age, by inoculation with Salmonella typhimurium. This attenuated strain of Salmonella is being used to deliver viral antigen to the mucosal immune system -- an approach that is currently being tested in vaccine studies to prevent transmucosal infection with simian immunodeficiency virus. In addition to assessing the immune effects of pregnancy disturbance in a reliable nonhuman primate model, the research will determine whether there are periods of particular vulnerability during pregnancy. One experiment will also assess whether the absence of breast milk and its soluble immune products exacerbates the effects of prenatal disturbance. The goal of the research program is to refine our understanding of how prenatal events influence the development of immune competence and facilitate the establishment of normal set points for certain physiological responses in the young infant.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
2R01MH041659-09A3
Application #
2245234
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (SRCM (07))
Project Start
1989-07-01
Project End
1999-03-31
Budget Start
1994-04-01
Budget End
1995-03-31
Support Year
9
Fiscal Year
1994
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Wisconsin Madison
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
161202122
City
Madison
State
WI
Country
United States
Zip Code
53715
Coe, Christopher L; Lulbach, Gabriele R; Schneider, Mary L (2002) Prenatal disturbance alters the size of the corpus callosum in young monkeys. Dev Psychobiol 41:178-85
Coe, Christopher L; Kramer, Marian; Kirschbaum, Clemens et al. (2002) Prenatal stress diminishes the cytokine response of leukocytes to endotoxin stimulation in juvenile rhesus monkeys. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 87:675-81
Coe, C L; Ershler, W B (2001) Intrinsic and environmental influences on immune senescence in the aged monkey. Physiol Behav 73:379-84
Price, K C; Coe, C L (2000) Maternal constraint on fetal growth patterns in the rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta): the intergenerational link between mothers and daughters. Hum Reprod 15:452-7
Coe, C L; Lubach, G R (2000) Prenatal influences on neuroimmune set points in infancy. Ann N Y Acad Sci 917:468-77
Coe, C L; Crispen, H R (2000) Social stress in pregnant squirrel monkeys (Saimiri boliviensis peruviensis) differentially affects placental transfer of maternal antibody to male and female infants. Health Psychol 19:554-9
Price, K C; Hyde, J S; Coe, C L (1999) Matrilineal transmission of birth weight in the rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) across several generations. Obstet Gynecol 94:128-34
Reyes, T M; Fabry, Z; Coe, C L (1999) Brain endothelial cell production of a neuroprotective cytokine, interleukin-6, in response to noxious stimuli. Brain Res 851:215-20
Bailey, M T; Coe, C L (1999) Maternal separation disrupts the integrity of the intestinal microflora in infant rhesus monkeys. Dev Psychobiol 35:146-55
Bailey, M T; Karaszewski, J W; Lubach, G R et al. (1999) In vivo adaptation of attenuated Salmonella typhimurium results in increased growth upon exposure to norepinephrine. Physiol Behav 67:359-64

Showing the most recent 10 out of 44 publications