IBCN   20355
INSTITUTO DE BIOLOGIA CELULAR Y NEUROCIENCIA "PROFESOR EDUARDO DE ROBERTIS"
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Autonomic and Epigenetic signatures of Prenatal stress: FELICITy study?
Autor/es:
PETER ZIMMERMANN; RORY WILSON; BAMMLER, THEO K.; ANTONELLI, MARTA C.; RITIKA SHARMA; BERG, G.; MELANIE WALDENBERGER; FRASCH, MARTIN G.; ZELGERT, CAMILLA; BIBIANA FABRE; MACDONALD, JAMES W.; LOBMAIER, SILVIA M.
Lugar:
Formato Virtual
Reunión:
Conferencia; The DOHaD Society of Australia and New Zealand.; 2020
Resumen:
Background/Aims: Maternal stress before, during and after pregnancy may program physiological responses of the infant, and epigenetically reprogram its lifelong trajectory. We hypothesize that infants affected by prenatal stress (PS) might show epigenetic alterations of the autonomic nervous system and Hypothalamic-Pituitary axis. Thus, we aim to develop a biomarker panel from salivary DNA as an early non-invasive measure of PS exposed infants. Method: In a prospective study, we screened women using Cohen perceived stress scale (PSS) and were classified into stress group (SG, PSS-10 ≥ N= 55), control group (CG, PS-10 > 19, N=55) matched 1:1 for parity, maternal age and gestational age. Fetal (f) and maternal (m) electrocardiograms were recorded to get heart rate signals (mHR, fHR). We analysed coupling between mHR and fHR using bivariate Phase Rectified Signal Averaging that yielded fetal stress index (FSI). Cortisol was measured in maternal hair. DNA methylation was measured in saliva samples of the newborn using the EPIC Bead Chip array850K. To identify associations between variables and methylation, linear regression models adjusting for confounders were run. Results: FSI of the PS fetuses was significantly higher when compared to CG foetuses. No difference in the methylation levels was observed in the PS newborns. However, one of the top hits of this association is cg05996789 (p = 7.38e-06) whose gene annotates for the protein SLC25A4 coding for Solute carrier family 25 member4. It catalyses exchange of cytoplasmic ADP with mitochondrial ATP across mitochondrial inner membrane. Conclusions: FSI may serve as an early biophysical biomarker of maternal-foetal stress transfer. No differential methylation was observed when analysing cortisol levels of infants born to SG and CG. However, our work is ongoing and associations between other ANS variables and methylation are being explored and will be presented in the meeting. We will assess differential methylation at two years old infants and changes at that age will give a window of opportunity for early interventions.