Periconception and Prenatal Exposure to Maternal Perceived Stress and Cord Blood DNA Methylation

Abstract

Background: Maternal prenatal stress is associated with physiologic and adverse mental health outcomes in the offspring, but the underlying biologic mechanisms are unknown. We examined the associations of maternal perceived stress, including preconception exposure, with DNA methylation (DNAm) alterations in the cord blood buffy coats of 358 singleton infants. Methods: Maternal perceived stress was measured prior to and throughout pregnancy in a cohort of women enrolled in Effects of Aspirin in Gestation and Reproduction Trial (EAGeR) trial. Perceived stress assessments based on a standardized Likert-scale were obtained in periconception (~2 months preconception and 2-8 weeks of gestation) and pregnancy (8-36 weeks of gestation). Cumulative perceived stress was estimated by calculating the predicted area under the curve of stress reported prior to and during pregnancy. DNAm was measured by the Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChip. Multivariable robust linear regression was used to assess associations of perceived stress with individual CpG probes. Results: Based on a 0 to 3 scale, average reported preconception and early pregnancy stress were 0.76 (0.60) and 0.67 (0.50), respectively. Average mid- to late-pregnancy stress, based on a 0 to 10 scale, was 4.9 (1.6). Neither periconception nor pregnancy perceived stress were associated with individual CpG sites in neonatal cord blood (all false discovery rate [FDR] >5%). Conclusion: No effects of maternal perceived stress exposure on array-wide cord blood neonatal methylation differences were found.

A novel approach to risk exposure and epigenetics—the use of multidimensional context to gain insights into the early origins of cardiometabolic and neurocognitive health

“…Previous perinatal DNAm studies that have attempted a multifactorial approach focused on maternal psychosocial stress [ 63 – 68 ]. A study by Laubach et al used a composite score of socioeconomic status using maternal factors collected in Project Viva, a multi-ethnic pregnancy cohort started in 1999 [ 65 ].…”

Salud mental intergeneracional

“…Pero en algún estudio más reciente no se han hallado efectos significativos de la exposición Rev Neuropsiquiatr. 2023;86(1): [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44] al estrés experimentado por la madre en la metilación neonatal de la sangre del cordón umbilical uterino (22) y se ha llegado a desafiar la hipótesis de que sucedan modificaciones consistentes de la metilación del ADN en niños expuestos a síntomas depresivos maternos prenatales (23).…”

Epigenome-wide meta-analysis of prenatal maternal stressful life events and newborn DNA methylation

“…Contrastingly, a meta-analysis of two epidemiological cohorts of predominantly European ancestry found no sign cant associations between prenatal stressful life events and DNA methylation in cord blood 33 . Other agnostic EWASes examining associations with prenatal perceived maternal stress and cord blood DNA methylation 34 or maternal depression during pregnancy and placental DNA methylation 35,36 , also report mixed results. Given the con icting nature of these studies, likely due to population characteristics and/or choice of tissue, there is a need to conduct larger-scaled meta-analyses to increase power, include populations from different genetic ancestries, as well as cultural settings with different levels of maternal stressful life events, and utilize a single tissue sample source for comparison .…”