title: Prenatal psychological stress, dermatoglyphic asymmetry and pregnancy outcome in the pigtailed macaque (Macaca nemestrina).
abstract: The relationships between maternal psychosocial stress during pregnancy and asymmetry in dermal ridge count, gestation length, birth weight percentile and survival were examined in 68 pigtailed macaque offspring. Twenty-five pregnant females were stressed daily by capture from 30 through 130 days postconception; 43 control unstressed females were housed under conditions of minimal disturbance. The difference between total intercore dermal ridge counts between right and left hands of the offspring was used as a measure of the perturbed development that theoretically occurs in the presence of a prenatal stressor. Dermatoglyphic asymmetry was significantly higher in the stressed offspring than in the unstressed group (mean asymmetry = 7.3 +/- 2.8 and 5.4 +/- 2.5, respectively; t = 2.85, p less than 0.01). Although maternal stress alone was not related to differential gestation length, birth weight, or survival, high asymmetry (8-13 residual dermal ridges) was significantly associated with increased perinatal mortality.
authors: Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle.
authors: L L
authors: LL
authors: Newell-Morris
authors: C E
authors: CE
authors: Fahrenbruch
authors: G P
authors: GP
authors: Sackett
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001724:Birth Weight; D003878:Dermatoglyphics; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D008254:Macaca nemestrina; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome / Q000662:veterinary*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*