1-138 - Diverse Perspective on Biological Pathways of Prenatal Stress Exposures and Child Development

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

The prenatal period is a time of heightened vulnerability to adverse environmental experiences. During this highly sensitive period, maternal stressors and other exposures affecting stress system functioning have long-term impacts on development via a process of biological embedding.

This symposium addresses the complexity of prenatal stress effects by considering multiple biological pathways affecting key domains of infant and child development, and the impact of developmental timing and stressor type. The first paper demonstrates that third trimester exposure to synthetic glucocorticoids alter placental hormone production and cognitive development and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis activity in children. The second paper highlights DNA methylation in placenta and umbilical cord blood as a potential biological mechanism of prenatal stress effects (both chronic and war-related traumas) on birth weight. The third paper explores the immune system as a biological pathway of prenatal stress by showing maternal cortisol and anxiety affect multiple measures of infant immune function and considering the potential role of immune functioning for cognitive development. Paper four capitalizes on earthquake exposure as a natural experiment to document prenatal stress effects on birth weight and cognitive development. Notably, trauma impacts were specific to children exposed during early gestation-- a critical period in brain development-- and those who experienced more chronic stress of low SES.

These four papers highlight the complexity of prenatal stress effects and the need for future research to more thoroughly consider the timing and nature of stressors as well as the multiple biological pathways, including neuroendocrine, immune, and epigenetic, affecting developmental outcomes.

Sub Unit

• Biological Processes

Chairs

• Darlene A Kertes, University of Florida

• Hayley Kamin, Univ of Florida

Individual Presentations

• Prenatal Programming of Child Development: Mechanisms and Pathways - Presenting Author: Elysia Poggi Davis, University of Denver

• Prenatal Maternal Stress Predicts Neonatal DNA Methylation of HPA Axis Genes and Birth Weight - Presenting Author: Darlene A Kertes, University of Florida

• Prenatal Maternal Anxiety Alters Infant Immune Response - Presenting Author: Thomas G O'Connor, University of Rochester

• The Effect of Prenatal Stress on Childhood Development: Exploiting a Natural Experiment - Presenting Author: Florencia Torche, Department of Sociology, New York University