1-038 - Prenatal Maternal Stress and Child Outcome: Exploring Novel Underlying Mechanisms

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Maternal psychosocial stress during pregnancy can have long-term effects on offspring development. This process is often referred to as fetal programming, as the effects are profound, long-term, and in some cases appear to be transmitted from the offspring to the next generation. Relations between maternal prenatal stress and outcomes have been found in many aspects of development, from physiology and health, to emotions and behaviors. However, we still do not know enough about the precise mechanisms underlying these relations. The most studied and proposed mechanism is that of the Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal (HPA) axis. But maternal pregnancy HPA axis functioning is not always related to maternal psychosocial stress, and it is also often unrelated to the child outcome. In this symposium we will go beyond the HPA axis, exploring novel pathways by which maternal stress during pregnancy may affect child outcome. These mechanisms are not necessarily alternatives of the HPA axis, but may rather act as additional, complementary mechanisms, or as moderators or mediators of the effects produced by the HPA axis. Understanding these mechanisms is important for studying possible adverse outcomes of maternal prenatal stress, and for developing preventive interventions.
The first paper looks at sleep quality throughout pregnancy, in relation to physical exercise. The second paper investigates prenatal dietary iron intake, maternal stress, and newborn brain development. The third paper presents relations between maternal pregnancy stress and infant intestinal microbiota and health. Finally, the fourth paper looks at relations between prenatal adversity and 18-month-olds’ inflammatory status.

Sub Unit

• Biological Processes

Chair

• Carolina de Weerth, No Institutional Affiliation

Individual Presentations

• The Effect of Exercise on Sleep during Pregnancy - Presenting Author: Michele Okun, University of Pittsburgh and University of Colorado at Colorado Springs; Joshua Baker, Univ of Pittsburgh; Scott Rothenberger, University of Pittsburgh; Christopher Kline, University of Pittsburgh

• Maternal Iron Intake During Pregnancy and Newborn Brain Maturity: A Pathway for a Stress Effect? - Presenting Author: Hanna Catharina Gustafsson, Columbia University; Dongrong Xu, Columbia University Medical Center and New York State Psychiatric Institute; Xuejan Hao, Columbia University Medical Center and New York State Psychiatric Institute; Ravi Bensal, Columbia University Medical Center and New York State Psychiatric Institute; Michael Georgieff, University of Minnesota; Catherine Monk, Columbia University; Bradley Peterson, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

• Maternal Prenatal Psychological Stress and Cortisol Levels Independently Predict the Infant’s Intestinal Microbiota Composition - Presenting Author: Maartje Zijlmans, Radboud University Nijmegen; Katri Korpela, University of Helsinki; Marianne Riksen-Walraven, Radboud University Nijmegen; Willem de Vos, University of Helsinki and Wageningen University; Carolina de Weerth, No Institutional Affiliation

• Prenatal Adversity and Inflammatory Outcomes Early in Life - Presenting Author: Jeffrey Measelle, University of Oregon; Jason David, University of Oregon; Jennifer C Ablow, University of Oregon