Prenatal Psychological Stress, Dermatoglyphic Asymmetry and Pregnancy Outcome in the Pigtailed Macaque (Macaca nemestrina)

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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 < 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.