Exposure to Prenatal Psychobiological Stress Exerts Programming Influences on the Mother and Her Fetus

Abstract

Background/Aims: Accumulating evidence from a relatively small number of prospective studies indicates that exposure to prenatal stress profoundly influences the developing human fetus with consequences that persist into childhood and very likely forever. Methods: Maternal/fetal dyads are assessed at ∼20, ∼25, ∼31 and ∼36 weeks of gestation. Infant assessments begin 24 h after delivery with the collection of cortisol and behavioral responses to the painful stress of the heel-stick procedure and measures of neonatal neuromuscular maturity. Infant cognitive, neuromotor development, stress and emotional regulation are evaluated at 3, 6 12 and 24 months of age. Maternal psychosocial stress and demographic information is collected in parallel with infant assessments. Child neurodevelopment is assessed with cognitive tests, measures of adjustment and brain imaging between 5 and 8 years of age. Results:Psychobiological markers of stress during pregnancy, especially early in gestation, result in delayed fetal maturation, disrupted emotional regulation and impaired cognitive performance during infancy and decreased brain volume in areas associated with learning and memory in 6- to 8-year-old children. We review findings from our projects that maternal endocrine alterations that accompany pregnancy and influence fetal/infant/child development are associated with decreased affective responses to stress, altered memory function and increased risk for postpartum depression. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that the mother and her fetus both are influenced by exposure to psychosocial and biological stress. The findings that fetal and maternal programming occur in parallel may have important implications for long-term child development and mother/child interactions.

The perinatal period: A literature review from the biopsychosocial perspective

“…Furthermore, studies indicate that some women are particularly sensitive to hormonal fluctuations, thus increasing their susceptibility to psychological stressing agents that are triggered by environmental and physiological factors [55] . Preterm birth has been identified as one potential outcome of fetal exposure to stress during pregnancy, and is further associated with a host of negative consequences for the fetus and subsequent development [56] . Complementary therapeutic interventions (e.g.…”

Maternal cortisol over the course of pregnancy and subsequent child amygdala and hippocampus volumes and affective problems

“…Intrauterine conditions that affect these structures and also are associated with increased risk for neuropsychiatric disorders include infection (9), maternal undernutrition (10,11), unhealthy maternal behaviors such as smoking or alcohol or drug use (12)(13)(14), and excessive maternal stress exposure (15). We and others have suggested that glucocorticoids (cortisol in humans) may play a salient role in this process (16)(17)(18). First, cortisol, the end-product of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, is known to exert a wide array of metabolic, endocrine, and immune effects on most if not all cells (19,20), and is known to play a key role in events underlying the development of the brain and other organ systems (16).…”

Why are individuals so different from each other?

“…Maternal forecasting by induction of a specific developmental trajectory is thought by many researchers to be important in human biology (for example, Bateson, 2001;Gluckman and Hanson, 2004;Sandman et al, 2012). The individual benefits, it is argued, by adjusting the trajectory of his or her development so that the developed phenotype is most likely to match the anticipated environment.…”