Maternal perceived stress and newborn hippocampus volume: Neurobehavioral cascade of social-emotional difficulties across two generations

• In Event: Neurobiological Effects of Early Adversity: Intergenerational Transmission and Intervention

Abstract

Maternal psychosocial distress during pregnancy can have persistent effects on the structure and function of the developing fetal brain. Animal studies have implicated the hippocampus as one of the main structures affected by prenatal stress. However, evidence for an association between maternal psychosocial distress during pregnancy and hippocampal morphology in humans is still rare. We sought to investigate whether maternal perceived stress across pregnancy is related to infant hippocampal volume shortly after birth and the implications of these alterations for infant social-emotional development. In addition, we explored concurrent and pre-conceptional determinants of maternal psychosocial distress during pregnancy.
In a sample of 86 healthy mother-child dyads, serial measures of maternal perceived stress were performed in early, mid and late pregnancy using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). After birth, structural magnetic resonance imaging of the newborn brain was employed during natural sleep to characterize hippocampal volume. At 6 months and one year of age, achievement of social-emotional developmental milestones was assessed with the Bayley-III. A variety of concurrent and pre-conceptional potential determinants of maternal perceived stress were assessed through structured interviews (e.g., sociodemographic information), abstraction of medical records (e.g., obstetric risk factors) and validated psychometric instruments (e.g., Childhood Trauma Questionnaire).
After adjustment for important covariates, we observed a negative effect of maternal perceived stress during pregnancy on newborn left hippocampal volume (B = -45.30, p = .008, Figure 1). Although the direction of the effect was similar, right hippocampal volume was not significantly associated with maternal PSS scores (B = -30.73, p = .109). Furthermore, larger newborn left hippocampal volume was positively associated with more advanced social-emotional development across the first year of life (B = .010, p = .035, Figure 2). From a range of potential concurrent and pre-conceptional stressors, only higher severity of maternal childhood maltreatment and more negative life events during pregnancy independently determined higher maternal perceived stress during pregnancy.
These findings advance our understanding of the neurodevelopmental cascade of social-emotional difficulties and how they affect the developing fetal brain. They also highlight the importance of monitoring the psychosocial state in pregnant women, particularly in those exposed to adverse childhood experiences, to break the cycle of transmission of mental health risk from one vulnerable population to the next.

Authors

• Nora K. Moog, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
  Presenting Author

• Saara Nolvi, University of Turku
  Non-Presenting Author

• Theresa Kleih, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
  Non-Presenting Author

• Martin Styner, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  Non-Presenting Author

• John H. Gilmore, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  Non-Presenting Author

• Alice M. Graham, Oregon Health and Science University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Damien A. Fair, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jerod M. Rasmussen, University of California, Irvine
  Non-Presenting Author

• Christine Heim, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sonja Entringer, Charité University of Medicine Berlin
  Non-Presenting Author

• Pathik D. Wadhwa, University of California, Irvine
  Non-Presenting Author

• Claudia Buss, Charité University of Medicine Berlin
  Non-Presenting Author