Cited by 123Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors StudyMaternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and PostpartumFatty Acid Research and Health

Perinatal Phosphatidylcholine Supplementation and Early Childhood Behavior Problems: Evidence for CHRNA7 Moderation

Open access
Ross, Randal G., Hunter, Sharon K., Hoffman, M. Camille, McCarthy, Lizbeth, Chambers, Betsey M., Law, Amanda J., Leonard, Sherry, Zerbe, Gary O. +1 more·2016·American Journal of Psychiatry

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: α7-Nicotinic receptors are involved in the final maturation of GABA inhibitory synapses before birth. Choline at levels found in the amniotic fluid is an agonist at α7-nicotinic receptors. The authors conducted a double-blind placebo-controlled trial to assess whether high-dose oral phosphatidylcholine supplementation during pregnancy to increase maternal amniotic fluid choline levels would enhance fetal development of cerebral inhibition and, as a result, decrease childhood behavior problems associated with later mental illness. METHOD: The authors previously reported that newborns in the phosphatidylcholine treatment group have increased suppression of the cerebral evoked response to repeated auditory stimuli. In this follow-up, they report parental assessments of the children's behavior at 40 months of age, using the Child Behavior Checklist. RESULTS: At 40 months, parent ratings of children in the phosphatidylcholine group (N=23) indicated fewer attention problems and less social withdrawal compared with the placebo group (N=26). The improvement is comparable in magnitude to similar deficits at this age associated with later schizophrenia. The children's behavior is moderated by CHRNA7 variants associated with later mental illness and is related to their enhanced cerebral inhibition as newborns. CONCLUSIONS: CHRNA7, the α7-nicotinic acetylcholine receptor gene, has been associated with schizophrenia, autism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Maternal phosphatidylcholine treatment may, by increasing activation of the α7-nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, alter the development of behavior problems in early childhood that can presage later mental illness.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1176/appi.ajp.2015.15091188

Cites

42 of 42 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • A subsequent study demonstrated that, at 40 months, phosphatidylcholine impacted neurocognitive biomarkers, leading to fewer attention problems and less social withdrawal compared with the placebo group, thus potentially altering the risk of later development of psychosis.

    “A subsequent study demonstrated that, at 40 months, phosphatidylcholine impacted neurocognitive biomarkers, leading to fewer attention problems and less social withdrawal compared with the placebo group, thus potentially altering the risk of later development of psychosis 165”
  • Perinatal phosphatidylcholine results in fewer attention problems and less social withdrawal.

    “Perinatal phosphatidylcholine (modulated biomarkers of neonatal brain development 164 *; fewer attention problems and less social withdrawal 165 *)”
  • Neurodevelopmental biomarkers have no available data on association with psychotic disorders.

    “Neurodevelopmental biomarkers (data not available) 164,165,167 *”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [33]Institute of Medicine and National Academy of Sciences USA Dietary Reference Intakes for Folate, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B12, Pantothenic Acid, Biotin, and Choline Washington, DC National Academies Press 1998 23193625

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Ross, R. G., Hunter, S. K., Hoffman, M. C., McCarthy, L., Chambers, B. M., Law, A. J., Leonard, S., Zerbe, G. O., & Freedman, R.
Affiliations
Colorado School of Public Health (US)
Corresponding author
Ross, Randal G.
Venue
American Journal of Psychiatry
Published
2016-05-01
Volume
173
Issue
5
Pages
509-516
ISSN
  • 0002-953X (ISSN-L)
  • 1535-7228
OpenAlex
W2191222387
Cited by
123
References
42
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 43 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1 · 2013: 1
FWCI
3.19
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • American Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • Anschutz Foundation
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Institute of Mental Health (P50MH086383, R01MH056539, R01MH101295)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors Study
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Fatty Acid Research and Health
Keywords
alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, CHRNA7, fetal brain development, early childhood behavior problems, attention deficits, social withdrawal, schizophrenia risk, autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, prenatal nutrition, Child Behavior Checklist
MeSH terms
Adult, Child Behavior, Child, Preschool, Double-Blind Method, Female, Genotype, Humans, Phosphatidylcholines, Pregnancy, Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects, Young Adult, alpha7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review