Chronic maternal stress during pregnancy alters fetal development

ANTONELLI MARTA CRISTINA; LOBMAIER, SILVIA M.; FRASCH, MARTIN G.

San Diego

Congreso; Society for Neurocience; 2018

Maternalstress before and during pregnancy (prenatal stress, PS) is a key risk factoraffecting in utero and postnatal child development. We hypothesized that PSimpacts the heart rate variability signature of autonomic nervous system (ANS)stress axis activity in mother and fetus. Herein, we propose a novel approachto assess couplings between maternal (mHR) and fetal heart rate (fHR) asa new biomarker for PS based on a signal-processing algorithm termed bivariatephase-rectified signal averaging (BPRSA). Prospective observational cohortstudy in stressed group (SG) mothers with controls matched for gestational ageduring screening at 28 weeks using Cohen Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)questionnaire with PSS-10 ¡Ý 19 classified as SG. Women with PSS-10 < 19served as control group (CG). Fetal electrocardiograms (fECG)were recorded non-invasively by a taECG at 36 weeks. Coupling between mHR and fHR wasanalyzed by BPRSA resulting in a parameter called fetal stress index (FSI).Maternal hair cortisol was measured at birth. Cortisol levels from 3 cm hairreflected up to three months of prior chronic stress exposure. (Clinical TrialsNCT 033891 78). Maternal hair cortisol levels differed significantly betweenboth groups objectifying the results of PSS-10. 1500 women were screened and538 women enrolled of which 16.5 % showed a PSS-10 score ¡Ý 19. ). FSI wassignificantly higher in fetuses of stressed mothers when compared to controls.Our findings show a persistent effect of PS affecting fetuses in the lasttrimester. Non-invasive taECGidentifies early fetuses at risk of altered neurodevelopmental trajectories.This may aid with targeted prenatal and postnatal interventions to reducestress exposure and its transgenerational impact.