A longitudinal study of families formed through reproductive donation: Parent-adolescent relationships and adolescent adjustment at age 14.

The aim of the 6th phase of this longitudinal study was to establish whether children born through assisted reproduction involving reproductive donation were at risk for psychological problems following the transition to adolescence at age 14 and, if so, to examine the nature of these problems and the mechanisms involved. Eighty-seven families formed through reproductive donation, including 32 donor insemination families, 27 egg donation families, and 28 surrogacy families, were compared with 54 natural conception families. Standardized interviews, questionnaires, and observational assessments of the quality of parent-adolescent relationships and adolescent adjustment were administered to mothers, adolescents, and teachers. The mothers in surrogacy families showed less negative parenting and reported greater acceptance of their adolescent children and fewer problems in family relationships as a whole compared with gamete donation mothers. In addition, less positive relationships were found between mothers and adolescents in egg donation families than in donor insemination families as rated by both mothers and adolescents. There were no differences between family types for the adolescents themselves in terms of adjustment problems, psychological well-being, and self-esteem. Longitudinal analyses showed no differences between family types in negative parenting from age 7 to age 14, and a weaker association between negative parenting and adjustment difficulties for gamete donation than natural conception and surrogacy families. The findings suggest that the absence of a genetic link between mothers and their children is associated with less positive mother-adolescent relationships whereas the absence of a gestational link does not have an adverse effect. (PsycINFO Database Record

The role of age of disclosure of biological origins in the psychological wellbeing of adolescents conceived by reproductive donation: a longitudinal study from age 1 to age 14.

BACKGROUND: The question of whether children should be told of their biological origins is one of the most controversial issues regarding the birth of children through donated eggs, sperm, embryos or surrogacy. METHODS: In the sixth phase of this longitudinal study when the children were aged 14 years, family relationships and adolescent adjustment were examined in 87 families created through reproductive donation and 54 natural conception families. The quality of family relationships was assessed by standardised interview with mothers and by standardised questionnaires and an observational measure with mothers and adolescents. Adolescent adjustment was assessed using standardised questionnaires. Systematic information on whether and when parents had told children about their biological origins was obtained at earlier phases of the study. RESULTS: There were no overall differences between disclosing families and either nondisclosing or natural conception families. However, within the disclosing families, more positive family relationships and higher levels of adolescent wellbeing were found for adolescents who had been told about their biological origins before age 7. CONCLUSIONS: The earlier children born through reproductive donation are told about their biological origins, the more positive are the outcomes in terms of the quality of family relationships and psychological wellbeing at adolescence.

Amygdala Dopamine Receptors Are Required for the Destabilization of a Reconsolidating Appetitive Memory

Disrupting maladaptive memories may provide a novel form of treatment for neuropsychiatric disorders, but little is known about the neurochemical mechanisms underlying the induction of lability, or destabilization, of a retrieved consolidated memory. Destabilization has been theoretically linked to the violation of expectations during memory retrieval, which, in turn, has been suggested to correlate with prediction error (PE). It is well-established that PE correlates with dopaminergic signaling in limbic forebrain structures that are critical for emotional learning. The basolateral amygdala is a key neural substrate for the reconsolidation of pavlovian reward-related memories, but the involvement of dopaminergic mechanisms in inducing lability of amygdala-dependent memories has not been investigated. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that dopaminergic signaling within the basolateral amygdala is required for the destabilization of appetitive pavlovian memories by investigating the effects dopaminergic and protein synthesis manipulations on appetitive memory reconsolidation in rats. Intra-amygdala administration of either the D1-selective dopamine receptor antagonist SCH23390 or the D2-selective dopamine receptor antagonist raclopride prevented memory destabilization at retrieval, thereby protecting the memory from the effects of an amnestic agent, the protein synthesis inhibitor anisomycin. These data show that dopaminergic transmission within the basolateral amygdala is required for memory labilization during appetitive memory reconsolidation.

Psychological adjustment in adolescents conceived by assisted reproduction techniques: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Adolescence is a transitional time for identity formation and relationships with parents. While people born through assisted reproduction techniques (ART) appear to be well adjusted in childhood, it is unclear whether these findings carry into adolescence, and whether diverse ART have different psychological outcomes. This review summarizes what is known about the psychological adjustment and family relationships of the growing number of children born through ART who are reaching adolescence. METHODS: The Pubmed, Web of Knowledge, PsycINFO and Scopus databases were searched systematically for peer reviewed papers focusing on adolescent psychological adjustment and parent-adolescent relationships in families created by ART. Key search inclusion criteria included all papers published in English relating to adolescents aged between 11 and 18 years. RESULTS: Seventeen publications with varied methodologies were identified by this review. Only papers relating to in vitro fertilization (IVF), egg donation and donor insemination were identified. Results were categorized according to ART that used the parents' own gametes (IVF) and those that involved reproductive donation (egg donation, and donor insemination). Compared with naturally conceived adolescents and standardized normative samples, adolescents born through all ARTs seemed to be equally well adjusted, and to have positive parent-adolescent relationships. Some differences were however identified based on the type of ART used. In particular, the sex of the parent and child, along with age and process of disclosure of the adolescent's conception were identified as key mediators of parent-adolescent relationships in families created by donor insemination. CONCLUSIONS: The studies in this review indicate that children born through ART have positive parent-adolescent relationships and are well adjusted, with some slight differences based on different ART. The generalizability of findings may be limited by the general low level of disclosure to adolescents in some of the publications, the small sample sizes of studies in the field, along with the large age range that encompasses adolescence. Findings should also be interpreted in light of the fact that many publications focus on singleton births. Future studies should also focus on egg donation, surrogacy and embryo donation, as well as the disclosure processes, and adolescents born into non-traditional families (same-sex or single parents) or those born using different types of donor (anonymous, identity-release or known).

Exposure to a fearful context during periods of memory plasticity impairs extinction via hyperactivation of frontal-amygdalar circuits.

An issue of increasing theoretical and translational importance is to understand the conditions under which learned fear can be suppressed, or even eliminated. Basic research has pointed to extinction, in which an organism is exposed to a fearful stimulus (such as a context) in the absence of an expected aversive outcome (such as a shock). This extinction process results in the suppression of fear responses, but is generally thought to leave the original fearful memory intact. Here, we investigate the effects of extinction during periods of memory lability on behavioral responses and on expression of the immediate-early gene c-Fos within fear conditioning and extinction circuits. Our results show that long-term extinction is impaired when it occurs during time periods during which the memory should be most vulnerable to disruption (soon after conditioning or retrieval). These behavioral effects are correlated with hyperactivation of medial prefrontal cortex and amygdala subregions associated with fear expression rather than fear extinction. These findings demonstrate that behavioral experiences during periods of heightened fear prevent extinction and prolong the conditioned fear response.

Neurofeedback for insomnia: a pilot study of Z-score SMR and individualized protocols.

Insomnia is an epidemic in the US. Neurofeedback (NFB) is a little used, psychophysiological treatment with demonstrated usefulness for treating insomnia. Our objective was to assess whether two distinct Z-Score NFB protocols, a modified sensorimotor (SMR) protocol and a sequential, quantitative EEG (sQEEG)-guided, individually designed (IND) protocol, would alleviate sleep and associated daytime dysfunctions of participants with insomnia. Both protocols used instantaneous Z scores to determine reward condition administered when awake. Twelve adults with insomnia, free of other mental and uncontrolled physical illnesses, were randomly assigned to the SMR or IND group. Eight completed this randomized, parallel group, single-blind study. Both groups received fifteen 20-min sessions of Z-Score NFB. Pre-post assessments included sQEEG, mental health, quality of life, and insomnia status. ANOVA yielded significant post-treatment improvement for the combined group on all primary insomnia scores: Insomnia Severity Index (ISI p<.005), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Inventory (PSQI p<.0001), PSQI Sleep Efficiency (p<.007), and Quality of Life Inventory (p<.02). Binomial tests of baseline EEGs indicated a significant proportion of excessively high levels of Delta and Beta power (p<.001) which were lowered post-treatment (paired z-tests p<.001). Baseline EEGs showed excessive sleepiness and hyperarousal, which improved post-treatment. Both Z-Score NFB groups improved in sleep and daytime functioning. Post-treatment, all participants were normal sleepers. Because there were no significant differences in the findings between the two groups, our future large scale studies will utilize the less burdensome to administer Z-Score SMR protocol.