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In both children and animal models, adverse childhood experiences lead to cognitive and behavioral impairments that have profound influence on behavior and health throughout the lifespan. To improve our understanding of the long-lasting impact of early stress exposure, the specific brain circuits impacted by early stress, and the mechanisms underlying each aspect of the influence of stress exposure, investigators have studied stress exposure in mouse models, non-human primates, and children. 

Judy Cameron, PhD (Professor of Psychiatry, Neuroscience, and Behavioral and Community Health Sciences), in studying a large cohort of children (ages 3–5) using social service agencies for assistance with food, housing, clothing, and child development services, found an association between childhood stress and attention deficit, which was more prevalent in boys than in girls. Takao Hensch, PhD (Joint Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School at Boston Children’s Hospital, and professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard’s Center for Brain Science), working with mice, recorded similar findings. 

Dr. Cameron and Dr. Hensch recently published a study in Science Translational Medicine demonstrating that fragmented maternal caregiving led to impaired attention in adult male, but not female, mice—findings that were associated with disrupted sleep patterns and dysregulated dopamine receptor expression in the anterior cingulate cortex. The mouse model results were compared to Dr. Cameron’s work with young children, with findings indicating a significant correlation between childhood adversity and attentional problems for boys but not for girls. In addition, they found that attention deficits were mediated by disrupted sleep patterns in children, consistent with the associated sleep and attentional impairments in mice.

“Together, our results suggest that early life stress results in attentional deficits potentially mediated by disturbed sleep in boys and male mice. These findings open several potential avenues to mitigate the impact of early life stress on attention,” said Dr. Cameron. “We were concerned to find in this study, and a second study with 100 children using social services, that 79% of children were getting insufficient high-quality sleep to support optimal brain development. We have developed a Healthy Sleep Education for Parents program that is freely available to all at wfk.teachable.com. We have also developed an interactive game for caregivers and children (0-8 years of age) to play that has over 250 fun activities to do together that help strengthen attention and other cognitive and social-emotional skills, and is freely available as the First Pathways app. Our hope is that these early interventions will help set children facing early life stresses on a pathway for improved lifelong outcomes.”

Sleep-sensitive dopamine receptor expression in male mice underlies attention deficits after a critical period of early adversity
Makino Y, Hodgson NW, Doenier E, Serbin AV, Osada K, Artoni P, Dickey M, Sullivan B, Potter-Dickey A, Komanchuk J, Sekhon B, Letorneau N, Ryan ND, Trauth J, Cameron JL, Hensch TK.
Science Translational Medicine 9 Oct 2024 Vol 16, Issue 768 DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adh9763