Early Life Stress, Hormones, and Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Makris, Gerasimos; Eleftheriades, Anna; Pervanidou, Panagiota

doi:10.1159/000523942

Cited by 24 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…Prenatal stress has long been associated with an increased risk of various NDDs, most notably schizophrenia, ADHD and autism ( Ronald et al, 2011 ; Diz-Chaves et al, 2012 , 2013 ; Chan et al, 2018 ; Minakova and Warner, 2018 ; Makris et al, 2022 ). More recently, this association has been further characterized by changes in inflammatory biomarkers in the maternal circulation that may increase the risk of various NDDs.…”

Section: Factors To Consider In Rodent Models Of Maternal Immune Acti...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal immune activation as an epidemiological risk factor for neurodevelopmental disorders: Considerations of timing, severity, individual differences, and sex in human and rodent studies

et al. 2023

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Epidemiological evidence suggests that one’s risk of being diagnosed with a neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD)—such as autism, ADHD, or schizophrenia—increases significantly if their mother had a viral or bacterial infection during the first or second trimester of pregnancy. Despite this well-known data, little is known about how developing neural systems are perturbed by events such as early-life immune activation. One theory is that the maternal immune response disrupts neural processes important for typical fetal and postnatal development, which can subsequently result in specific and overlapping behavioral phenotypes in offspring, characteristic of NDDs. As such, rodent models of maternal immune activation (MIA) have been useful in elucidating neural mechanisms that may become dysregulated by MIA. This review will start with an up-to-date and in-depth, critical summary of epidemiological data in humans, examining the association between different types of MIA and NDD outcomes in offspring. Thereafter, we will summarize common rodent models of MIA and discuss their relevance to the human epidemiological data. Finally, we will highlight other factors that may interact with or impact MIA and its associated risk for NDDs, and emphasize the importance for researchers to consider these when designing future human and rodent studies. These points to consider include: the sex of the offspring, the developmental timing of the immune challenge, and other factors that may contribute to individual variability in neural and behavioral responses to MIA, such as genetics, parental age, the gut microbiome, prenatal stress, and placental buffering.

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Section: Factors To Consider In Rodent Models Of Maternal Immune Acti...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal immune activation as an epidemiological risk factor for neurodevelopmental disorders: Considerations of timing, severity, individual differences, and sex in human and rodent studies

et al. 2023

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“…Autistic burnout may represent a distinct pathophysiological state resulting from allostatic overload, culminating in neurological and psychological dysregulation that leads to psychopathology. Previous work has described how allostatic load may interact with behavioral, psychosocial and physiological aspects of ASC (37)(38)(39)90); however, this model remains poorly characterized from a molecular perspective. Notably, the molecular mechanisms that mediate the association between ELS, CAS and psychopathology are also involved in ASC etiology.…”

Section: Early Life Stress Chronic Adolescent Stress and Allostatic L...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here, we integrate recent characterizations of internal autistic experiences within a molecular framework to yield insight into psychopathology and suicidality in ASC. Interactions between psychosocial stress, ASC physiology and allostatic load have previously been proposed to influence clinical outcomes in autism (37)(38)(39). Singletary (37) proposed that autistic children are exposed to significant stress that could disrupt social and cognitive development during the early post-natal period.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A molecular framework for autistic experiences: Mitochondrial allostatic load as a mediator between autism and psychopathology

Mahony

O’Ryan

2022

Front. Psychiatry

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Molecular autism research is evolving toward a biopsychosocial framework that is more informed by autistic experiences. In this context, research aims are moving away from correcting external autistic behaviors and toward alleviating internal distress. Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASCs) are associated with high rates of depression, suicidality and other comorbid psychopathologies, but this relationship is poorly understood. Here, we integrate emerging characterizations of internal autistic experiences within a molecular framework to yield insight into the prevalence of psychopathology in ASC. We demonstrate that descriptions of social camouflaging and autistic burnout resonate closely with the accepted definitions for early life stress (ELS) and chronic adolescent stress (CAS). We propose that social camouflaging could be considered a distinct form of CAS that contributes to allostatic overload, culminating in a pathophysiological state that is experienced as autistic burnout. Autistic burnout is thought to contribute to psychopathology via psychological and physiological mechanisms, but these remain largely unexplored by molecular researchers. Building on converging fields in molecular neuroscience, we discuss the substantial evidence implicating mitochondrial dysfunction in ASC to propose a novel role for mitochondrial allostatic load in the relationship between autism and psychopathology. An interplay between mitochondrial, neuroimmune and neuroendocrine signaling is increasingly implicated in stress-related psychopathologies, and these molecular players are also associated with neurodevelopmental, neurophysiological and neurochemical aspects of ASC. Together, this suggests an increased exposure and underlying molecular susceptibility to ELS that increases the risk of psychopathology in ASC. This article describes an integrative framework shaped by autistic experiences that highlights novel avenues for molecular research into mechanisms that directly affect the quality of life and wellbeing of autistic individuals. Moreover, this framework emphasizes the need for increased access to diagnoses, accommodations, and resources to improve mental health outcomes in autism.

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“…Also, a study by Mikita et al, 2015 found that 10 to 16-year-old boys with high-functioning ASD exhibited greater levels of irritability than typically developing boys and showed marked changes in cortisol levels and heart rate in response to stressful stimuli [ 51 ]. This is because high levels of stress over a long period of time have been associated with high levels of cortisol in the body [ 52 ]. Therefore, in the future, the correlation of irritability with behavioral parameters and neurobiological indicators of stress in preschool children with irritability and features of neurodevelopmental disorders could be investigated and shown, as well as the differences in irritability and related neurological indicators in children with neurodevelopmental disorders compared to typically developing children.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychometric Validation of the Greek Version of the Scale “Temper Loss” of the Questionnaire “Multidimensional Assessment Profile of Disruptive Behavior (MAP-DB)”

et al. 2022

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It has become increasingly evident that vulnerability to psychopathology is identifiable early in life. A body of evidence suggests that the recognition and prevention of a spectrum of typical/atypical behaviors in preschoolers can lead to earlier diagnosis and treatment. The Multidimensional Assessment Profile of Disruptive Behavior (MAP-DB) is a parent-completed instrument that has been developed recently to differentiate normative misbehaviors in early childhood from markers of clinical risk. The aim of the present study was to validate the “Temper Loss” Subscale in the Greek language and to assess its psychometric properties in healthy children. An on-print parent-report survey was conducted among Greek children, aged between 3 and 5.5 years. The survey included the MAP-DB and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). A total of 400 respondents participated in the study. The analysis suggested that the Greek version of the MAP-DB’s “Temper Loss” scale has good psychometric properties. The results of the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) of the 22 items were able to explain 64.4% of the total variance. Internal consistency for the one subscale was satisfactory, with Cronbach’s alpha at 0.970. This scale can be used by researchers and practitioners for the evaluation of dimensional phenotypes in early childhood.

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Early Life Stress, Hormones, and Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Cited by 24 publications

References 74 publications

Maternal immune activation as an epidemiological risk factor for neurodevelopmental disorders: Considerations of timing, severity, individual differences, and sex in human and rodent studies

Maternal immune activation as an epidemiological risk factor for neurodevelopmental disorders: Considerations of timing, severity, individual differences, and sex in human and rodent studies

A molecular framework for autistic experiences: Mitochondrial allostatic load as a mediator between autism and psychopathology

Psychometric Validation of the Greek Version of the Scale “Temper Loss” of the Questionnaire “Multidimensional Assessment Profile of Disruptive Behavior (MAP-DB)”

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