Summary: A new study in eLife reports that adults who were born very prematurely and experienced small brain injuries around birth show lower dopamine levels in the brain.
Complications at Birth Linked to Lasting Changes in Brain Chemistry
Researchers at King’s College London, in collaboration with teams from Imperial College London and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, have found that adults who were born very prematurely and sustained perinatal brain injuries have reduced dopamine synthesis in adulthood. The findings, published in eLife, identify a biological change that may underlie certain motivational, attentional, and mood-related difficulties observed in some people with a history of early brain injury.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter central to reward, motivation, learning, and attention. Alterations in dopaminergic function are implicated across a range of psychiatric conditions, including depression, substance dependence, and psychotic disorders. This study shows that decreased dopamine synthesis capacity, rather than an increase, is associated with early neonatal brain injury in humans.
Study Design and Findings
The investigators combined positron emission tomography (PET) with [18F]-DOPA to measure dopamine synthesis capacity, structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to assess brain anatomy, and a battery of psychological tests. They compared three groups: adults born very preterm who sustained perinatal brain injury, adults born very preterm without evidence of neonatal brain injury, and full-term control participants.
Results showed that the group with perinatal brain injury had significantly reduced striatal dopamine synthesis capacity compared with both preterm individuals without brain injury and full-term controls. The same group also had smaller hippocampal volumes relative to controls. Importantly, hippocampal volume correlated positively with striatal dopamine synthesis across participants, suggesting a link between early hippocampal damage and later dopaminergic dysfunction.
Most people born prematurely do not experience long-term dopamine changes; the effect appeared to be specific to those who had detectable brain injury around the time of birth. Roughly one in ten births are premature, and although most premature infants do well, 15–20% of babies born before 32 weeks experience bleeding in the brain’s ventricles during the first week of life. Significant neonatal bleeding can lead to lasting neurological consequences.
Implications for Mental Health and Prevention
These findings offer a potential biological mechanism connecting complications at birth to increased risk of adult mental health problems. While many psychiatric conditions arise from complex interactions of genetics and life experiences, the study highlights that serious difficulties at birth can exert long-term effects on brain chemistry and structure. Reduced dopamine synthesis may contribute to symptoms such as low motivation, reduced pleasure, attentional problems, and vulnerability to mood and substance-use disorders.
Lead author Dr. Sean Froudist-Walsh noted that while animal studies have long suggested links between early brain lesions and later psychiatric outcomes, this work provides direct evidence in humans. Joint senior authors Dr. Chiara Nosarti and Professor Oliver Howes emphasized that understanding this mechanism could guide more targeted intervention and prevention strategies for people born very preterm who experienced neonatal brain injury.
Funding and Research Context
The research received funding from the March of Dimes and the Medical Research Council, with additional support from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre. The study adds to a growing literature examining how perinatal events can shape adult brain function and mental health risk.
Abstract Summary
The published study, titled “The effect of perinatal brain injury on dopaminergic function and hippocampal volume in adult life,” compared adults born very preterm with and without perinatal brain injury, and full-term controls, using [18F]-DOPA PET and structural MRI. Dopamine synthesis capacity was reduced in the perinatal brain injury group relative to both the preterm group without injury and to controls. Hippocampal volume was also reduced in the injury group and correlated with striatal dopamine synthesis capacity. These results provide the first human evidence linking neonatal hippocampal injury to adult dopamine dysfunction and suggest a mechanistic pathway by which early-life complications may increase risk for adult mental illness.
Publication Details
The full research article was published in eLife (2017). The study’s findings contribute to understanding how early neurological insults can have persistent neurochemical and structural effects, underlining the importance of monitoring and supporting individuals born very preterm, especially those with documented neonatal brain injuries.
Source: King’s College London
Publisher note: Organized by Neuroscience News
Original research: “The effect of perinatal brain injury on dopaminergic function and hippocampal volume in adult life,” Froudist-Walsh et al., eLife, 2017. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.29088
This article summarizes peer-reviewed research and does not provide medical advice. Further research is needed to translate these findings into clinical prevention or treatment strategies.