Maternal Corticotropin Releasing Hormone during pregnancy: A predictor for endocrine, cognitive and neural development in six- and seven-year-old children?
Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse
The aim of my postdoctoral research project was to study the effects of prenatal stress on brain development and cognitive function in 6-9 year-old children, whose mothers had undergone extensive psychosocial and biological stress assessments during pregnancy. We were successful in recruiting 198 children from the original pregnancy cohort back into the study, who underwent extensive testing of cognitive functioning. Furthermore, a subgroup of 59 children participated in a structural MRI scan. While data analyses on the associations between biological indicators of stress (e.g. Cortisol, placental corticotropin releasing hormone) and brain morphology are still ongoing, we have very interesting first results relating maternal psychological stress during pregnancy (pregnancy specific anxiety) to the offspring's brain morphology and function. Specifically, independent of postnatal stress, pregnancy anxiety at 19 weeks gestation was associated with gray matter volume reductions in the prefrontal cortex, the premotor cortex, the medial temporal lobe, the lateral temporal cortex, the postcentral gyrus as well as the cerebellum extending to the middle occipital gyrus and the fusiform gyrus. Interestingly, high pregnancy anxiety at 25 and 31 weeks gestation was not significantly associated with local reductions in gray matter volume suggesting critical time periods during pregnancy when maternal stress exerts most significant effects on the offspring's brain development. In line with these findings, high pregnancy anxiety in early (but not in late) pregnancy was associated with impaired executive function and working memory performance, cognitive abilities that are sustained by the prefrontal cortex. Besides being associated with cognitive impairment, the observed changes in brain morphology may furthermore increase vulnerability for certain neuropsychiatrie, neurodegenerative, physical (obesity) and behavioral (addiction) disorders. Therefore the results suggest that addressing mothers' pregnancy-related concerns and anxiety should be a major focus for public health initiatives.
Projektbezogene Publikationen (Auswahl)
- Low Levels Of Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone During Early Pregnancy Are Associated With Precocious Maturation Of The Human Fetus. Dev Neurosci, 2008; 30: 419-26
Class QA, Buss C, Davis EP, Gierczak M, Pattillo C, Chicz-DeMet A & Sandman CA
- Developmental Origins of Health and Disease: Brief History of the Approach and Current Focus on Epigenetic Mechanisms. Seminars in Reproductive Medicine, 2009; 27: 358-368
Wadhwa PD, Buss C, Entringer S & Swanson J
- Developmental Origins of Health and Disease: Environmental Exposures. Seminars in Reproductive Medicine, 2009; 27: 391
Swanson JM, Entringer S, Buss C, & Wadhwa PD
- Prenatal stress and working memory in young adults. Behav Neurosci, 2009; 123(4): 886-93
Entringer S, Buss C, Kumsta R, Hellhammer DH, Wadhwa PD & Wüst S
