Journal
NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS
Volume 48, Issue -, Pages 70-91Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.11.013
Keywords
Maternal stress; Prenatal stress; Perinatal programming; Glucocorticoids; Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance; Small non-coding RNA; microRNA; DNA methylation; Epigenetics; Gestation; Pregnancy; Maternal health; Newborn health; Brain development; Aging; Stress resilience; Stress vulnerability; Mental health; Psychiatric disease; Neurological disease; Anxiety; Depression
Categories
Funding
- Alberta Innovates - Health Solutions (AI-HS) Interdisciplinary Team Grant [200700595]
- AIHS Sustainability Grant
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research [102652]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Research efforts during the past decades have provided intriguing evidence suggesting that stressful experiences during pregnancy exert long-term consequences on the future mental wellbeing of both the mother and her baby. Recent human epidemiological and animal studies indicate that stressful experiences in utero or during early life may increase the risk of neurological and psychiatric disorders, arguably via altered epigenetic regulation. Epigenetic mechanisms, such as miRNA expression, DNA methylation, and histone modifications are prone to changes in response to stressful experiences and hostile environmental factors. Altered epigenetic regulation may potentially influence fetal endocrine programming and brain development across several generations. Only recently, however, more attention has been paid to possible transgenerational effects of stress. In this review we discuss the evidence of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance of stress exposure in human studies and animal models. We highlight the complex interplay between prenatal stress exposure, associated changes in miRNA expression and DNA methylation in placenta and brain and possible links to greater risks of schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, anxiety- or depression-related disorders later in life. Based on existing evidence, we propose that prenatal stress, through the generation of epigenetic alterations, becomes one of the most powerful influences on mental health in later life. The consideration of ancestral and prenatal stress effects on lifetime health trajectories is critical for improving strategies that support healthy development and successful aging. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available