Mum's stress impacts unborn baby's brain
Knock on effect ... offspring absorb mother's stress. Photo: iStock
The placenta of a pregnant woman can absorb more than just nutrition and oxygen, a new study has found.
Researchers, from the University of Pennsylvania, found that stress is transmitted to the placenta, altering the levels of a protein that can affect brain development in the foetus.
The authors of the paper, published online yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said: "Maternal stress is a key risk factor for neurodevelopmental disorders, including schizophrenia and autism."
This is particularly the case for male offspring.
The study is an extension of previous work, which has found that the male offspring, of female mice exposed to stress, exhibited heightened reactions to stress.
Other studies have found similar results in human male babies, and that those exposed to stress in the first trimester are at an increased risk of developing schizophrenia, the University of Pennsylvania press reported.
In this latest study, the researchers have pinpointed the biomarker that shows the difference in the stress response between male and female babies.
"Most everything experienced by a woman during a pregnancy has to interact with the placenta in order to transmit to the foetus," said Tracy Bale, lead author on the paper. "Now we have a marker that appears to signal to the foetus that its mother has experienced stress."
The authors believe that the particular enzyme expression that is affected, and shows greater reduction in male placentas, may protect the brain during gestation. This, in turn, places the male offspring at risk of abnormal neurodevelopment if the mother is stressed during pregnancy.
The researchers hope this finding will help them identify at-risk individuals so that further support can be provided.
"We want to get to the point where we can predict the occurrence of neurodevelopmental disease," Bale said. "If we have a marker for exposure, we can meld that with what we know about the genetic profiles that predispose individuals to these conditions and keep a close eye on children who have increased risks."