Maternal postpartum depression is a prominent risk factor for aberrant child socioemotional development, but there is little understanding about the neural phenotypes that underlie infant sensitivity to maternal depression. We examined whether newborn white matter fractional anisotropy (FA), a measure of white matter maturity, moderates the association between maternal postpartum depressive symptoms and infant negative reactivity at 6 months. Participants were 80 mother–infant dyads participating in a prospective population-based cohort, and included families whose newborns underwent a magnetic resonance/diffusion tensor imaging scan at 2–5 weeks of age and whose mothers reported their own depressive symptoms at 3 and 6 months postpartum and infant negative emotional reactivity at 6 months. The whole-brain FA moderated the association between maternal depressive symptoms and mother-reported infant negative reactivity at 6 months after adjusting for the covariates. Maternal depressive symptoms were positively related to infant negative reactivity among infants with high or average FA in the whole brain and in corpus callosum and cingulum, but not among those with low FA. The link between maternal depressive symptoms and infant negative reactivity was moderated by newborn FA. The variation in white matter microstructure might play a role in child susceptibility to parental distress.

中文翻译：

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新生儿白质的微结构减轻了产妇产后抑郁症状与婴儿阴性反应性之间的联系。

产妇抑郁是儿童社交情绪异常发育的重要危险因素，但对于婴儿对孕产妇抑郁症敏感的神经表型知之甚少。我们检查了新生儿白质分数各向异性（FA）（衡量白质成熟度）是否缓解了6个月时产妇的产后抑郁症状与婴儿阴性反应性之间的关联。参加研究的有80位母婴二元组参加了一项基于人群的前瞻性研究，其中包括新生儿在2-5周龄接受磁共振/扩散张量成像扫描并且母亲在3个月和6个月时表现出抑郁症状的家庭。 6个月时产后和婴儿的负面情绪反应。校正协变量后的6个月，全脑FA缓解了母亲的抑郁症状与母亲报告的婴儿阴性反应之间的关联。在整个大脑，call体和扣带中FA高或中等的婴儿中，母亲的抑郁症状与婴儿阴性反应呈正相关，而FA低的婴儿则与母亲的阴性反应呈正相关。新生儿FA缓解了母亲的抑郁症状与婴儿阴性反应之间的联系。白质微观结构的变化可能在儿童易患父母困扰中起作用。在整个大脑，call体和扣带中FA高或中等的婴儿中，母亲的抑郁症状与婴儿阴性反应呈正相关，而FA低的婴儿则与母亲的阴性反应呈正相关。新生儿FA缓解了母亲的抑郁症状与婴儿阴性反应之间的联系。白质微观结构的变化可能在儿童易患父母困扰中起作用。在整个大脑以及call体和扣带中FA高或中等的婴儿中，母亲的抑郁症状与婴儿负反应性呈正相关，而FA低的婴儿则与母亲的阴性反应呈正相关。新生儿FA缓解了母亲的抑郁症状与婴儿阴性反应之间的联系。白质微观结构的变化可能在儿童易患父母困扰中起作用。