Prenatal Stress and Its Effects on the Fetus and the Child: Possible Underlying Biological Mechanisms

Abstract

Many prospective studies have shown that if a mother is depressed, anxious or stressed while pregnant, this increases the risk for her child having a wide range of adverse outcomes including emotional problems, symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or impaired cognitive development. Although genetics and postnatal care clearly affect these outcomes, evidence for a prenatal causal component also is substantial. Prenatal anxiety/depression may contribute 10–15 % of the attributable load for emotional/behavioural outcomes.

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Book Title Perinatal Programming of Neurodevelopment
Chapter Title Prenatal Stress and Its Effects on the Fetus and the Child: Possible
Underlying Biological Mechanisms
Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014
Corresponding Author Prefix
Family name Glover
Particle
Given name Vivette
Suffix
Division Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology
Organization Imperial College London, Hammersmith Campus
Address Du Cane Road, W12 0NN London, UK
Email v.glover@imperial.ac.uk
Abstract Many prospective studies have shown that if a mother is depressed,
anxious or stressed while pregnant, this increases the risk for her
child having a wide range of adverse outcomes including emotional
problems, symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD) or impaired cognitive development. Although genetics and
postnatal care clearly affect these outcomes, evidence for a prenatal
causal component also is substantial. Prenatal anxiety/depression
may contribute 10–15 % of the attributable load for
emotional/behavioural outcomes.
The mechanisms underlying these changes are just starting to be
explored. One possible mediating factor is increased exposure of the
fetus to cortisol, as has been shown in animal studies. However, the
human hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis which makes
cortisol functions differently in human pregnancy from in most
animals. The maternal HPA axis becomes gradually less responsive
to stress as pregnancy progresses. And there is only a weak, if any,
association between a mother’s prenatal mood and her cortisol level,
especially later in pregnancy. Cytokines are alternative possible
mediators. An additional explanation is that stress or anxiety causes
increased transfer of maternal cortisol across the placenta to the
fetus. The placenta plays a crucial role in moderating fetal exposure
to maternal factors and presumably in preparing the fetus for the
environment in which it is going to find itself. There is some evidence
in both rat models and in humans that prenatal stress can reduce
placental 11β-HSD2, the enzyme which metabolises cortisol to
inactive cortisone. The level of cortisol in the amniotic fluid,
surrounding the baby in the womb, has been shown to be inversely
correlated with infant cognitive development. However, several other
biological systems are likely to be involved. Serotonin is another
possible mediator of prenatal stress induced programming effects on
offspring neurocognitive and behavioural development. The role of
epigenetic changes in mediating alterations in offspring outcome
following prenatal stress is likely to be important and starting to be
explored.
Keywords Prenatal stress - Fetus - Programming - Neurodevelopment - Cortisol
- HPA - Placenta - 11β-HSD2
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Chapter 13
Prenatal Stress and Its Effects on the Fetus
and the Child: Possible Underlying Biological
Mechanisms
Vivette Glover
M. Antonelli (ed.), Perinatal Programming of Neurodevelopment,
Advances in Neurobiology 10, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4939-1372-5_13,
© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014
V. Glover ()
Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology, Imperial College London,
Hammersmith Campus, Du Cane Road, London W12 0NN, UK
e-mail: v.glover@imperial.ac.uk
Abstract Many prospective studies have shown that if a mother is depressed,
anxious or stressed while pregnant, this increases the risk for her child having a
wide range of adverse outcomes including emotional problems, symptoms of atten-
tion deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or impaired cognitive development.
Although genetics and postnatal care clearly affect these outcomes, evidence for
a prenatal causal component also is substantial. Prenatal anxiety/depression may
contribute 10–15 % of the attributable load for emotional/behavioural outcomes.
The mechanisms underlying these changes are just starting to be explored. One
possible mediating factor is increased exposure of the fetus to cortisol, as has been
shown in animal studies. However, the human hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal
(HPA) axis which makes cortisol functions differently in human pregnancy from in
most animals. The maternal HPA axis becomes gradually less responsive to stress
as pregnancy progresses. And there is only a weak, if any, association between a
mother’s prenatal mood and her cortisol level, especially later in pregnancy. Cy-
tokines are alternative possible mediators. An additional explanation is that stress
or anxiety causes increased transfer of maternal cortisol across the placenta to the
fetus. The placenta plays a crucial role in moderating fetal exposure to maternal fac-
tors and presumably in preparing the fetus for the environment in which it is going
to find itself. There is some evidence in both rat models and in humans that prenatal
stress can reduce placental 11β-HSD2, the enzyme which metabolises cortisol to
inactive cortisone. The level of cortisol in the amniotic fluid, surrounding the baby
in the womb, has been shown to be inversely correlated with infant cognitive devel-
opment. However, several other biological systems are likely to be involved. Sero-
tonin is another possible mediator of prenatal stress induced programming effects
on offspring neurocognitive and behavioural development. The role of epigenetic
changes in mediating alterations in offspring outcome following prenatal stress is
likely to be important and starting to be explored.
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2 V. Glover
13.1 Prenatal Stress and Child Outcomes
Stress is a generic term, which includes a wide range of different exposures, and
many different types of prenatal stress have been shown to be associated with al-
tered outcome for the child. These include symptoms of maternal anxiety and de-
pression (O’Connor et al. 2003; Van den Bergh et al. 2008), pregnancy-specific
anxiety (Huizink et al. 2002), bereavement (Khashan et al. 2008), life events, in-
cluding a bad relationship with the partner (Bergman et al. 2007) and exposure to
acute disasters such as a Canadian ice storm (Laplante et al. 2008), 9/11 (Yehuda
et al. 2005), Chernobyl (Huizink et al. 2007) or a hurricane in Louisiana (Kinney
et al. 2008a). It is clear that it is not just a diagnosable mental illness or very extreme
or “toxic stress” that can alter the outcome. Exposures which can have an effect
vary from the very severe, such as the death of an older child, to quite mild stresses,
such as daily hassles.
It has been suggested that mild-to-moderate stress may actually improve some
outcomes. Mild prenatal stress has been shown in some studies to accelerate motor
development and cognitive ability (DiPietro et al. 2006). This is an interesting idea
and deserves further investigation. Other studies have found a linear dose response
between prenatal maternal anxiety and emotional/behavioural outcomes for the
child (O’Connor et al. 2002). It is possible that prenatal stress has different patterns
and direction of effect for different outcomes. For example, mild-to-moderate stress
may accelerate physical maturation and cognitive function while also increasing
symptoms of anxiety.
Many independent prospective studies have now shown that if the mother is anx-
ious, depressed or stressed while she is pregnant her child is at increased risk of a
wide range of problems (Van den Bergh et al. 2005; Talge et al. 2007; Glover 2011;
see Table 13.1). These include both neurodevelopmental, such as emotional and be-
havioural disorders (O’Connor et al. 2002), and physical problems, such as asthma
(Khashan et al. 2012). It is important to note that in all these studies, the findings
show only an increased risk. Most children are not affected. But an increased risk,
for example, a doubling of a probable mental disorder, from about 6–12 %, if the
mother in the top 15 % of anxiety or depression as shown in a normal population
(O’Donnell et al. 2013 in press), is of real clinical significance.
Different studies have examined children at times from birth until adulthood.
Many have shown that prenatal stress is associated with somewhat lower birth-
weight and reduced gestational age (Wadhwa et al. 2011; Rice et al. 2010). Studies
have found an increased proportion of children who are mixed handed, rather than
right handed, after prenatal stress (Glover et al. 2004; Rodriguez and Waldenstrom
2008), and also altered fingerprint patterns (King et al. 2009). These physical altera-
tions are of interest because they are features that are known to develop in utero.
Being mixed handed is not a problem in itself, but it is known that people with a
range of neurodevelopmental problems such as autism and schizophrenia are also
more likely to be mixed handed. Recent studies have shown prenatal stress is asso-
ciated with reduced telomere length (Entringer et al. 2011, 2013). This is an intrigu-
ing finding, as well as of concern, as reduced telomere length is associated with a
reduced life span.
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313 Prenatal Stress and Its Effects on the Fetus and the Child
Some investigators have looked at the newborns of mothers who report stress
during pregnancy and found a poorer performance on the Neonatal Behavioral As-
sessment Scale relative to newborns of mothers who do not report stress during
pregnancy (Rieger et al. 2004), showing that adverse behavioural outcomes are also
observable from the very beginning. Studies of infants and toddlers have shown
more difficult temperament (Austin et al. 2005; Werner et al. 2007; Davis et al.
2007; Blair et al. 2011), sleep problems (O’Connor et al. 2007), lower cognitive
performance and increased fearfulness associated with higher maternal stress dur-
ing pregnancy (Bergman et al. 2007). Other studies have examined the association
between prenatal stress and neurodevelopmental outcomes in children aged 3–16
years. Many independent groups have shown that prenatal stress increases child
emotional problems, especially symptoms of anxiety and depression, and symptoms
of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and conduct disorder (O’Connor
et al. 2002, 2003; Van Den Bergh and Marcoen 2004; Rodriguez and Bohlin 2005;
Table 13.1 Studies showing prenatal anxiety, depression or stress is associated with an increased
risk of the following conditions
Psychological/behavioural/cognitive References
Worse function on the Brazelton test in
newborns
(Rieger et al. 2004)
More sleep problems in infants (O’Connor et al. 2007)
More anxiety in infants (Bergman et al. 2007)
More difficult temperament in infants (Austin et al. 2005; Werner et al. 2007; Davis
et al. 2007; Blair et al. 2011)
Worse cognitive ability in infancy
Increased cognitive ability in infancy
(Huizink et al. 2003; Bergman et al. 2007;
Laplante et al. 2004; DiPietro et al. 2006)
ADHD in childhood (O’Connor et al. 2002, 2003; Van Den Bergh
and Marcoen 2004; Rodriguez and Bohlin
2005; Li et al. 2010)
Emotional problems in childhood and
adolescence
(O’Connor et al. 2002, 2003; Van Den Bergh
and Marcoen 2004; Pawlby et al. 2009;
Barker et al. 2011)
Conduct disorder in childhood (O’Connor et al. 2002, 2003; Rice et al. 2010)
Decreased cognitive ability in childhood (Laplante et al. 2008; Barker et al. 2011)
Autism or autism spectrum disorder
No increased risk of autism
(Beversdorf et al. 2005; Kinney et al. 2008b;
Class et al. 2013; Li et al. 2009)
Vulnerability to bullying at school (Lereya and Wolke 2012)
Increased risk of schizophrenia in adulthood (van Os and Selten 1998; Khashan et al. 2008)
Physical
Lower birthweight and/or gestational age (Wadhwa et al. 2011; Rice et al. 2010)
Reduced telomere length (Entringer et al. 2011, 2013)
Oral cleft (Ingstrup et al. 2013)
Altered fingerprint pattern (King et al. 2009)
Mixed handedness (Glover et al. 2004; Rodriguez and
Waldenstrom 2008)
Altered immune function (O’Connor et al. 2013)
Asthma (Khashan et al. 2012)
Obesity (Entringer 2013)
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4 V. Glover
Li et al. 2010; Pawlby et al. 2009; Barker et al. 2011; Rice et al. 2010). Studies have
also shown a reduction in cognitive performance associated with prenatal stress
(Laplante et al. 2008; Barker et al. 2011).
Some research (Beversdorf et al. 2005; Kinney et al. 2008b; Class et al. 2013),
although not all (Li et al. 2009), has found an association between prenatal stress
and increased risk of autism or autistic spectrum disorder. Two studies have found
an increased risk of schizophrenia in adults born to mothers who experienced stress
during pregnancy (van Os and Selten 1998; Khashan et al. 2008). Both showed
effects with severe stress, the death of a relative or exposure to the invasion of the
Netherlands in 1940. One group, using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), has
shown associations between prenatal stress and specific regional reductions in grey
matter density in the brain (Buss et al. 2010). Such altered grey matter may be as-
sociated with neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders as well as cognitive
and intellectual impairment.
There is little consistency in the literature as to the most sensitive time in gesta-
tion for the influence of prenatal stress. It is likely that there are different times of
sensitivity dependent on the outcome studied and the stage of development of the
relevant brain structures. The two studies of schizophrenia found the most sensitive
period was in the first trimester (van Os and Selten 1998; Khashan et al. 2008).
This is when neuronal cells migrate to their eventual site in brain, a process previ-
ously suggested to be disrupted in schizophrenia. In contrast, two studies of conduct
disorder, or antisocial behaviour, found associations with stress in mid or late preg-
nancy (O’Connor et al. 2003; Rice et al. 2010).
Many human studies, as discussed above, have shown that there is an association
between maternal stress during pregnancy and an altered outcome for the child. The
evidence for this is very strong and has been shown in many independent prospec-
tive studies from around the world. What is harder to establish is that the association
is causal. If a mother is stressed while she is pregnant, she may well be stressed
postnatally and this could affect her parenting. There can be other associated con-
founding factors such as smoking or alcohol consumption, which may affect her
child, for example, in behaviour and birthweight. There also could be genetic con-
tinuity. The mother may have certain genes which make her more likely to become
anxious or depressed and she may pass these genes on to her child, which in turn
makes them more prone to emotional or behavioural problems.
Several studies have tried to address these points but the first evidence to con-
sider is that from animals. With animal studies, it is much easier to establish that
prenatal stress has a direct effect on the outcome for the offspring. Newborn rat
pups of prenatally stressed mothers can be cross-fostered to non-stressed mothers
on the 1st day after birth, with control pups of unstressed mothers cross-fostered
also (Weinstock 2001; Maccari et al. 2003). This can establish that any differences
in outcome are caused by stress in the prenatal period. Many such studies have
shown that there are definite programming effects of prenatal stress on behaviour,
cognitive development and brain structure of the offspring. The nature of the effects
can be affected by the timing of the exposure in gestation, the type of the stress, the
strain of the animal and the age at which the offspring was tested (Weinstock 2007).
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513 Prenatal Stress and Its Effects on the Fetus and the Child
Some altered outcomes are not observed in the youngest offspring, but become
apparent as they mature. The effects can also depend on the sex of the offspring.
In general, although not always, prenatal stress increases anxiety and depressive
behaviour to a greater extent in female offspring and impairs learning and cognition
more in the males (Weinstock 2007).
In humans there are several types of evidence which also suggest that prenatal
stress is causing fetal programming, but it is harder to be definitive. There is good
evidence for an association between the mother’s emotional state and the behaviour
or heart rate of her fetus. Experiments in which a pregnant mother is asked to carry
out a stressful computer task, while the fetal heart rate is monitored, showed that the
fetal heart rate went up during the task, but only in mothers who rated themselves
as anxious (Monk et al. 2003). Thus, even before birth, the fetus can be affected by
the maternal emotional state, although we do not know what the mechanism is for
this (it is too quick to be caused by the stress hormone cortisol). There is evidence
for continuity between fetal behaviour and neurological maturation at 2 years of age
(DiPietro et al. 2007). The fact that maternal stress during pregnancy is associated
with altered outcomes at birth including reduced birthweight (Wadhwa et al. 1993),
reduced scores on a neonatal assessment (Rieger et al. 2004) and epigenetic changes
in the glucocorticoid receptor in cord blood (Hompes et al. 2013) is evidence for
some prenatal, independent of postnatal, effects. Findings of altered fingerprint pat-
terns (King et al. 2009) and handedness (Glover et al. 2004) are also strong evi-
dence for prenatal effects as the pattern for both of these is set in utero.
Another approach to establishing that the associations between the maternal
emotional state and long-term outcome for the child are, at least in part, causal
is by controlling for confounding factors such as prenatal smoking and alcohol
consumption and for postnatal maternal mood. Several studies have done this and
found a strong signal remaining for prenatal anxiety or depression, thus controlling
for impaired parenting due to postnatal depression or anxiety, e.g. O’Connor et al.
(2002). If the observed associations are primarily due to an anxious mother passing
on predisposing genes to her child, it would not be expected to be specifically as-
sociated with prenatal as opposed to postnatal mood. In a recent study (O’Donnell
et al. in press) we have shown that the associations with child emotional and behav-
ioural problems last until 13 years of age. In this study, we also show that allowing
for paternal prenatal mood makes little difference to the associations with prenatal
maternal anxiety or depression, thus adding further evidence for maternal prenatal
effects independent of genetics.
An interesting study compared the association between prenatal stress and child
outcome in children born after in vitro fertilisation, in those who were genetically
related to the mother with those who were not (Rice et al. 2010). They showed that
there was an association between maternal stress in pregnancy and child symptoms
of ADHD and conduct disorder, and that the association with conduct disorder was
apparent in the unrelated mothers. This gives strong support to the idea that the
association between prenatal stress and child conduct disorder can be independent
of genetic factors. However, the fact that the increase in symptoms of ADHD was
apparent only in those with related mothers does not conclusively rule out a prenatal
AQ1
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6 V. Glover
environmental component. There may be a gene–environment interaction. Prenatal
stress may only have the effect of increasing symptoms of ADHD in the genetically
vulnerable mother and child pairs. More research is needed to disentangle the role
of genetic factors for all outcomes.
One further indication that the effects of prenatal stress are not just due to genetic
continuity is the group of studies that have shown children of mothers exposed to
acute disasters, such as the Canadian ice storm (Laplante et al. 2008). With these
“natural experiments”, the level of stress was objectively assessed, and the exposure
was of a specific duration. This reduces the confounding effects of pre-existing
emotional problems and genetic continuity, and also postnatal emotional and par-
enting effects.
There clearly are additional effects of both postnatal maternal mood and par-
enting. For example, the association between prenatal anxiety and child fearful-
ness was found to be greater in those children with an insecure attachment to their
mother (Bergman et al. 2008). In our recent study (O’Donnell et al. in press), we
found that the magnitude of the effect of prenatal maternal mood was similar to that
of postnatal and that the two were additive.
Although there is some room for scepticism, the evidence is mounting that in
humans, as in animals, prenatal stress has a direct causal effect on fetal development
including neurodevelopment. However, the early postnatal environment is equally
important, and can either exacerbate or ameliorate the prenatal effects.
It is important to consider the clinical magnitude of these effects. When we com-
pared the outcome for children of the 15 % most prenatally anxious or depressed
women with the rest, in a large normal population (O’Donnell et al. in press), we
found that the rate of probable mental disorder doubled from about 6–12 % at age 13
years, after allowing for a very wide range of possible confounders. This is of clear
clinical and public health significance but also shows that most children are not
affected. Those children that are affected are often affected in different ways (Berg-
man et al. 2007). One reason for this may be differential genetic vulnerabilities.
13.2 Mechanisms
In animal studies, there has been much research on underlying mechanisms with an
especial focus on the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis (Weinstock 2005;
Harris and Seckl 2011; Khulan and Drake 2012). The effects of prenatal stress on
the offspring can be partially mimicked by giving the pregnant animal a synthetic
glucocorticoid such as dexamethasone (Matthews and Phillips 2011; Crudo et al.
2013) or adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) to stimulate the production of cor-
tisol (or corticosterone in rodents), and at least partially blocked by adrenalectomy
(Weinstock 2008).
A model of some potential underlying mechanisms, based on the animal data, is
shown in Fig. 13.1, with references in Table 13.2. The hypothesis is that prenatal
stress causes an increase in maternal cortisol; this then crosses the placenta in a
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713 Prenatal Stress and Its Effects on the Fetus and the Child
quantity sufficient to affect the development of the fetal brain. However, each stage
of this needs to be tested in humans, and this is only just starting.
There is some evidence that in humans, as in animal models, prenatal administra-
tion of dexamethasone is associated with more behavioural and emotional problems
in the child (Khalife et al. submitted for publication), lasting at least until adoles-
cence, where a thinning of the cortex has been shown (Davis et al. 2013). There is
also evidence for the potentially widespread role for exposure to increased cortisol
in human fetal brain development by a study showing, by microarray analysis, that
increased cortisol exposure affects the expression of over a thousand genes in fetal
brain cells (Salaria et al. 2006).
However, there is either a weak or no correlation found in many studies be-
tween a motherl brain development by a study showing, by microarray analysis,
that increase (Sarkar et al. 2006; O’Donnell et al. 2009; Davis and Sandman 2010;
Baibazarova et al. 2013). In human pregnancy, the placenta produces increasing
concentrations of corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) which stimulates ma-
ternal production of cortisol; towards the end of pregnancy, plasma levels reach
those found in melancholic depression. This in turn is associated with a dampened
cortisol response to stress (Kammerer et al. 2002). Maternal plasma cortisol levels
correlate strongly with cord blood (Gitau et al. 1998) and amniotic fluid (Sarkar
et al. 2007; Baibazarova et al. 2013), and prenatal maternal cortisol levels can be
a predictor of child outcome independent of maternal mood (Davis and Sandman
2010). However, the maternal mediator between prenatal stress, anxiety and depres-
sion and altered child outcome is currently not known.
One possible biological group of maternal mediators could be those associated
with the immune system and inflammation, such as the pro-inflammatory cyto-
kines. There is a growing literature associating them with depression (Hepgul et al.
Fig. 13.1 A model of some potential underlying mechanisms, based on the animal data
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8 V. Glover
2013). Increased cytokines have been associated with psychosocial stress during
pregnancy (Coussons-Read et al. 2007). Elevated stress was related to higher se-
rum interleukin-6 (IL-6) both in early and late pregnancy. No relationships between
stress and cytokines were apparent during the second trimester. However, elevated
stress levels across pregnancy were predictive of elevated production of the pro-
inflammatory cytokines IL-1B and IL-6 by stimulated lymphocytes in the third
trimester, suggesting that stress during pregnancy affects the function of immune
system cells. A recent study has confirmed that depressed pregnant women have
higher levels of IL-6 in the first trimester (Haeri et al. 2013). However, another
study has failed to find any association between maternal symptoms of anxiety and
depression during pregnancy and levels of IL-6 (Blackmore et al. 2011), at 18 or 32
weeks. This is clearly an area that needs further exploration.
Increase in activity of the sympathetic system may also be important although it
has been much less studied than the HPA axis. However, noradrenaline, unlike cor-
tisol which is only partially metabolised (Gitau et al. 1998), is totally metabolised
by the placenta (Giannakoulopoulos et al. 1999).
The placenta plays a crucial part in fetal programming. Dependent on the chemi-
cal signals it receives from the mother, it can alter its filtering capacity and thus alter
the exposure of the fetus to specific chemicals (Jansson and Powell 2007). Animal
studies have shown that prenatal stress can have an effect on placental function,
including on the regulation of 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 2 (11β-HSD2),
the enzyme that breaks down cortisol (corticosterone in rodents) to inactive product.
Two studies have shown that prenatal stress in the last week of gestation caused a
downregulation of expression of this enzyme (Mairesse et al. 2007; Jensen Pena
et al. 2012). However, acute stress on day 20 of gestation caused an upregulation
(Welberg et al. 2005).
We have shown that with increasing maternal anxiety the correlation between
maternal plasma and amniotic fluid cortisol increased significantly (Glover et al.
2009). We have more recently shown directly, in women having an elective cae-
sarean section, that maternal symptoms of anxiety on the previous day were as-
sociated with a downregulation of 11β-HSD2 (O’Donnell et al. 2012). This would
be compatible with some chemical signal from the mother causing an alteration in
Table 13.2 Possible mechanisms
Mother References
Cortisol (Sarkar et al. 2006)
Cytokines (Coussons-Read et al. 2007)
Placenta
11 βHSD2 (O’Donnell et al. 2012)
Amniotic fluid
Cortisol (Bergman et al. 2010)
Child
HPA axis function (O’Donnell et al. 2013; Entringer et al. 2009)
Brain structure (Buss et al. 2010)
Epigenetic changes (Hompes et al. 2013)
AQ2
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913 Prenatal Stress and Its Effects on the Fetus and the Child
the filtering capacity of the placenta, allowing more cortisol to pass through to the
fetus. Another study has failed to find this downregulation of placental 11β-HSD2
in association with prenatal maternal symptoms of anxiety or depression, (Ponder
et al. 2011), although they did find alterations in the noradrenaline transporter. This
may be due to differences in the design of the study, and especially in the inclusion
of women who have experienced labour. There is some evidence that labour alters
the expression of 11β-HSD2 (personal communication).
In addition to cortisol, another factor which may be important in altering fetal
brain development is 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), which acts as a trophic factor
to regulate fetal neuronal cell division, differentiation and synaptogenesis (Gaspar
et al. 2003). 5-HT has a different role during early development from that in adult-
hood (Oberlander 2012). Whilst selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors can alleviate
anxiety and depression later in life, treatment of newborn mice with these drugs
causes an increase in these symptoms (Ansorge et al. 2004). Recent work has iden-
tified an endogenous serotonin biosynthetic pathway within the human placenta,
which plays a role in offspring neurodevelopment (Bonnin et al. 2011).
A major mechanism for removing 5-HT is its metabolism to inactive 5-hydroxy-
indoleacetic acid by the enzyme monoamine oxidase A (MAO A). This is the en-
zyme that metabolises a range of monoamine neurotransmitters including noradren-
aline and dopamine. The placenta is a very rich source of MAO A suggesting its
importance in the regulation of fetal monoamine exposure. We have recently shown
that prenatal maternal depression is associated with a downregulation of expression
of placental MAO A (Blakeley et al. in press), suggesting that another mechanism
underlying the effects of prenatal mood on fetal brain development may be via in-
creased exposure to 5-HT. This is a promising area for future research.
There is little direct human evidence yet that fetal overexposure to specific
chemicals is mediating the effects of prenatal stress. However, amniotic fluid corti-
sol levels have been shown to be inversely correlated with cognitive development
in the infant (Bergman et al. 2010), but only in those children who were insecurely
attached. It is clear that at least some prenatal effects can be buffered or modified
by the postnatal environment.
Animal studies have shown that many of the long-term effects of the early envi-
ronment, including the psychosocial, are due to epigenetic changes, which can be
maintained through the life span and even the grandchild generation (Meaney and
Szyf 2005; Bale et al. 2011; Monk et al. 2012; Gudsnuk and Champagne 2012).
These are changes “on top of the DNA” which alter whether a specific gene is
turned on or off, and if turned on, how much of it is expressed. Prenatal stress has
been shown to cause, through microRNA regulation, certain epigenetic signatures
of psychiatric and neurological diseases in the offspring (Zucchi et al. 2013).
In human studies too, epigenetic changes in the child are starting to be found
after prenatal stress, with an initial focus on the glucocorticoid receptor, the recep-
tor that responds to cortisol (Harris and Seckl 2011). Methylation in the promoter
of the glucocorticoid receptor NR3C1 in the newborn has been found to be altered
after prenatal stress, in a cohort from the Congo, and the changes were associated
with reduced birthweight (Mulligan et al. 2012). High pregnancy-specific anxiety
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10 V. Glover
has also been shown to be associated with epigenetic changes in the promoter for
this receptor in the newborn (Hompes et al. 2013). And maternal exposure to inti-
mate partner violence has been shown to be associated with epigenetic changes to
the promoter for the same receptor in the blood of their adolescent children (Radtke
et al. 2011).
In animal models, it has been found that prenatal stress can have a long-term ef-
fect on the function of the HPA axis in the offspring, although the patterns are quite
complex (Weinstock 2005). There has been little work so far in humans but our
group has shown that prenatal anxiety was associated with raised morning cortisol
in 10-year-old children (O’Connor et al. 2005), but that the pattern had changed by
adolescence (O’Donnell et al. 2013). In 15-year-old children, there were modest but
significant effects, with the morning rise being reduced and a flatter diurnal slope.
It is unlikely that these changes in the diurnal cortisol pattern underlie any of the
emotional, behavioural or cognitive changes seen in older children as they are much
too small.
A notable finding of all the prenatal stress and child outcome studies is that most
of the children are not affected. This is probably due at least in part to different
genetic vulnerabilities and gene–environment interactions (Caspi et al. 2003). Al-
though no interactions have been found between prenatal anxiety, genetic variation
in the 5-HT transporter and child outcome (Braithwaite et al. 2013) we are finding
small interactions between prenatal anxiety and variants of the COMT and BDNF
genes (unpublished observations). This is certainly an area where further research
is warranted.
13.3 Conclusion
There is good evidence that various forms of prenatal stress contribute to long-
term neurodevelopmental changes in the child. The underlying mechanisms are just
starting to be understood, and probably include the HPA axis, changes in the filter-
ing capacity of the placenta and epigenetic changes in the child. However, much
work is needed before we understand these underlying mechanisms and are able to
evaluate and target different interventions properly.
13.4 Conflict of Interest
The author declares no conflict of interest.
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1113 Prenatal Stress and Its Effects on the Fetus and the Child
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Author's Proof

Chapter 13: Author Query
AQ1. The following authors are not present in the reference list. Please provide the complete reference for the citations “O’Donnell et al.
in press”, “Khalife et al. submitted for publication”, “Blakeley et al. in press”.
AQ2. We have changed “11 bHSD2” to “11 βHSD2” in table 13.2 to maintain consistency. Please check.
Author's Proof