# Effects of Prenatal Opiates on Infant Brain and Neurobehavioral Development

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · 2021 · $679,645

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Opioid use during pregnancy has increased dramatically in the past decade, and may pose significant health
challenges for the rapidly growing number of exposed infants born to mothers using illicit and/or prescribed
opioids. Prenatal opioid exposure (OE) is inconsistently related to impaired neurobehavior, attention, and
cognition in infancy and childhood, suggesting persistent, potentially life-long, consequences. This fetal
exposure occurs during a time of extraordinary brain growth and organization, making it a critical period of
vulnerability to environmental insult. However, little is known about the effects of OE on early human brain
development that may contribute to reported deficits. The objectives of this proposal are to quantify the effects
of OE on the development of infant brain functional connectivity in postnatal months 1-12, to determine
associations with neurobehavioral and cognitive outcomes, and to examine how gender, other prenatal drug
exposures, and postnatal environmental factors moderate these effects. Our central hypothesis is that fetal
brain development and organization are altered by OE; deficits in developing connections and networks
mediate the negative effects of OE on simultaneously developing neurobehavior and early cognition; gender,
other drugs and postnatal environment interact with OE to influence growth trajectories of rapidly developing
connections and networks that subserve emerging abilities. This hypothesis is based on the study team’s
substantial research experience with mother-infant dyads with prenatal opioid and other drug exposures
(Jones, Grewen), and on strong preliminary data showing normative development of functional networks from
birth to 2 years (Gao), disruptions in neonatal functional connectivity due to prenatal opioids and other drugs
(Grewen, Gao), and on associations between functional connections and behavioral effects (Grewen, Gao).
The rationale for the proposed research is that longitudinal study will quantify direct and interactive effects of
initial neural insult, infant gender and postnatal environment on developing functional connections. The
hypotheses will be tested with 3 Specific Aims: 1) Quantify the extent to which OE impairs developing
functional connections at 2 weeks and again at 12 months; 2) Determine the extent to which the effects of OE
on neurobehavior, attention, self-regulation and cognition are related to developmental trajectories of functional
connections; 3) Determine how infant gender, other prenatal drug exposures, and a Cumulative Environmental
Risk Index moderate the effects of OE on developing connectivity. This approach is innovative because it will
employ hypothesis-driven analyses as well as novel, exploratory data-driven and machine learning methods to
quantify direct and interactive effects of OE and other drug exposures on functional circuitry. The proposed
research is significant because rates of prenatal OE and NAS have increased 5-fold s...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10197069
- **Project number:** 5R01DA043678-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL
- **Principal Investigator:** Wei Gao
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $679,645
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10197069

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10197069, Effects of Prenatal Opiates on Infant Brain and Neurobehavioral Development (5R01DA043678-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10197069. Licensed CC0.

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