Maternal prenatal stress and cortisol reactivity to stressors in human infants

Tollenaar, Marieke S.; Beijers, Roseriet; Jansen, Josephine; Riksen‐Walraven, J. Marianne; Weerth, Carolina de

doi:10.3109/10253890.2010.499485

Cited by 149 publications

(145 citation statements)

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“…10,11 It is suggested that maternal prenatal stress is related to dysregulation of the HPA system via "fetal programing" of the offspring. [12][13][14][15] The most common and convenient method of assessing the activity of the HPA axis is measurement of salivary cortisol levels. Given the short half-life of cortisol in saliva, concentrations of salivary cortisol reveal only momentary stress.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal Influence on Child HPA Axis: A Prospective Study of Cortisol Levels in Hair

Karlén¹,

Frostell²,

Theodorsson³

et al. 2013

Pediatrics

120

112

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WHAT'S KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT: Stress affects health of children, potentially persisting as a trajectory into adulthood. Earlier biological markers assess only momentary stress, making it difficult to investigate stress over longer periods of time. Cortisol in hair is a new biomarker of prolonged stress. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS:Mother and child hair cortisol association suggests a heritable part or maternal calibration. Cortisol output gradually stabilizes, has a stable trait, and is positively correlated to birth weight. Hair cortisol is a promising noninvasive biomarker of prolonged stress, especially applicable for children. abstract OBJECTIVE: To investigate cortisol concentrations in hair as biomarker of prolonged stress in young children and their mothers and the relation to perinatal and sociodemographic factors.METHODS: Prospective cohort study of 100 All Babies In Southeast Sweden study participants with repeated measures at 1, 3, 5, and 8 years and their mothers during pregnancy. Prolonged stress levels were assessed through cortisol in hair. A questionnaire covered perinatal and sociodemographic factors during the child' s first year of life. RESULTS:Maternal hair cortisol during the second and third trimester and child hair cortisol at year 1 and 3 correlated. Child cortisol in hair levels decreased over time and correlated to each succeeding age, between years 1 and 3 (r = 0.30, P = .002), 3 and 5 (r = 0.39, P , .001), and 5 and 8 (r = 0.44, P , .001). Repeated measures gave a significant linear association over time (P , .001). There was an association between high levels of hair cortisol and birth weight (b = .224, P = .020), nonappropriate size for gestational age (b = .231, P = .017), and living in an apartment compared with a house (b = .200, P = .049). In addition, we found high levels of cortisol in hair related to other factors associated with psychosocial stress exposure. CONCLUSIONS:Correlation between hair cortisol levels in mothers and their children suggests a heritable trait or maternal calibration of the child' s hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis. Cortisol output gradually stabilizes and seems to have a stable trait. Cortisol concentration in hair has the potential to become a biomarker of prolonged stress, especially applicable as a noninvasive method when studying how stress influences children' s health. Pediatrics 2013;132:e1333-e1340

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal Influence on Child HPA Axis: A Prospective Study of Cortisol Levels in Hair

Karlén¹,

Frostell²,

Theodorsson³

et al. 2013

Pediatrics

120

112

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that maternal exposure to prenatal stress can lead to permanent modification of hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) function and stress-related behaviors in offspring (Tollenaar et al, 2011;Whriledge & Cidlowski, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maternal Water Deprivation Affects the Spermatogenesis of the Offspring Rats

2013

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SUMMARY:Prenatal stresses such as water deprivation affect developmental process of embryo. This study evaluated the effects of water deprivation in pregnant mother on histological parameters of testis of offspring. Pregnant rats were divided into two groups (control and experimental). In experimental animals, water was removed from the ewes for 48h at the end of third trimester of gestation (19-21th days). Histopathology and histomorphic analysis and also TUNEL assay on offspring's testes were performed at pubertal age (60 days). The sperm motility either compared between two groups. The results showed that prenatal water deprivation induced histopathological alteration such as epithelium vacuolization, sloughing and detachments (P<0.01). Morphometrical data showed that prenatal water deprivation decreased tubular diameter and reduce epithelium height (P<0.01). Johnsen's score showed poor spermatogenesis in experimental group (P=0.001). The percent of germ cell apoptosis was increased in offspring's testes of rats born to mothers exposed to stress during pregnancy (P=0.000). The increased number of Multinucleated cells in the seminiferous lumen (P=0.000) in parallel with decreased number of sertoli cells (P=0.03) showed adverse effect of prenatal water deprivation on blood testis barrier. Present study revealed that prenatal water deprivation had injurious effect on developmental process of testes that affects on both germ cells and sertoli cells and had noxious effect on sperm parameters. These data confirm that prenatal stress disrupts normal spermatogenesis of offspring.

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“…This requires investigation in early development, as the infant's HPA axis can be unpredictably active (93), allowing stress to have early impacts in the gut and gut-brain axis. It is also of note that maternal stress and anxieties prenatally also act to modulate the infant's HPA axis response (94). As to how prenatal stressors interact with maternal postnatal stress in the modulation of the infant microbiome and the composition of breast milk require further investigation, including as to the relevance of alterations in the melatonergic pathways to this.…”

Section: Breastfeeding: Modulation Of the Gut And Gut-brain Axismentioning

confidence: 99%

Breastfeeding and the gut-brain axis: is there a role for melatonin?

Anderson¹,

Vaillancourt²,

Maes

et al. 2017

Biomolecular Concepts

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The benefits of breastfeeding over formula feed are widely appreciated. However, for many mothers breastfeeding is not possible, highlighting the need for a significant improvement in the contents of formula feed. In this article, the overlooked role of melatonin and the melatonergic pathways in breast milk and in the regulation of wider breast milk components are reviewed. There is a growing appreciation that the benefits of breastfeeding are mediated by its effects in the infant gut, with consequences for the development of the gut-brain axis and the immune system. The melatonergic pathways are intimately associated with highly researched processes in the gut, gut microbiome and gut-brain axis. As the melatonergic pathways are dependent on the levels of serotonin availability as a necessary precursor, decreased melatonin is linked to depression and depression-associated disorders. The association of breastfeeding and the gut-brain axis with a host of medical conditions may be mediated by their regulation of processes that modulate depression susceptibility. The biological underpinnings of depression include increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, oxidative stress, kynurenine pathway activity and dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal axis, all of which can decrease melatonergic pathway activity. The inclusion of the melatonergic pathways in the biological interactions of breast milk and gut development has significant theoretical and treatment implications, as well as being important to the prevention of a host of infant-, child-and adult-onset medical conditions.

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Maternal prenatal stress and cortisol reactivity to stressors in human infants

Cited by 149 publications

References 59 publications

Maternal Influence on Child HPA Axis: A Prospective Study of Cortisol Levels in Hair

Maternal Influence on Child HPA Axis: A Prospective Study of Cortisol Levels in Hair

Maternal Water Deprivation Affects the Spermatogenesis of the Offspring Rats

Breastfeeding and the gut-brain axis: is there a role for melatonin?

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