Attenuation of maternal psychophysiological stress responses and the maternal cortisol awakening response over the course of human pregnancy

Abstract

The effects of maternal stress during pregnancy may depend, in part, on the timing in gestation of the occurrence of stress. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of stage of gestation on maternal psychophysiological responses to stress using a standardized laboratory paradigm and on the cortisol response to awakening (CAR). A longitudinal design was employed to quantify maternal psychophysiological stress reactivity [changes in heart rate (HR), blood pressure, salivary cortisol, and psychological distress in response to the trier social stress test (TSST)] and the CAR at approximately 17 and 31 weeks gestation in a sample of 148 women. To account for the possible effects of habituation when being exposed to the same stress protocol twice, a non-pregnant comparison group (CG, N = 36) also underwent these assessments at two time points, with a comparable time interval between the assessments. In both groups, the TSST elicited significant changes in maternal HR, mean arterial pressure, and psychological distress levels but not a significant increase in cortisol levels. Among the pregnant women (pregnant group(PG)), the stressor-induced increases in HR, blood pressure, and psychological distress were significantly lower at the second (31 weeks gestation) compared to the first (17 weeks gestation) assessment of pregnancy (all p < 0.01). The maternal CAR was also significantly attenuated in later compared to earlier gestation (p = 0.003). In the CG, there were no significant differences in psychophysiological stress responses and in the CAR across the two assessments. Among pregnant women there is a progressive attenuation of psychophysiological stress responses with advancing gestation. This attenuation is unlikely to be attributable to habituation. Individual differences in the degree of attenuation of stress responses over gestation may represent a novel marker of stress susceptibility in human pregnancy.

Socioeconomic disadvantage, gestational immune activity, and neurodevelopment in early childhood

“…We assayed stored maternal serum for concentrations of five cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α, and IL-10) that have receptor locations in stress circuitry brain regions (23). We preferentially selected samples drawn as close to the beginning of third trimester as available from the specimen repository, given the importance of this period for neurodevelopment and prior evidence that inflammation during mid to late gestation confers risk for offspring neuropsychiatric outcomes (26)(27)(28). Previous work using samples stored under similar conditions and for a similar length of time (>40 y) demonstrated the long-term stability of these cytokines (12,13).…”

Food restriction during pregnancy in rabbits: Effects on hormones and metabolites involved in energy homeostasis and metabolic programming

“…Cortisol secretion is a generic response to stress as well as a specific adaptive response to fasting and nutritional stress recruiting all available energy sources in the body (Brecchia et al, 2009;Brunton et al, 2008;Mastorakos and Ilias, 2003). However, several studies have shown that stressinduced activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is altered during pregnancy (Brunton et al, 2008;Entringer et al, 2010;Slattery and Neumann, 2008). In women, administration of exogenous corticotrophin-releasing hormone in late pregnancy failed to evoke a significant adrenal response (Schulte et al, 1990).…”

Failed Lactation and Perinatal Depression: Common Problems with Shared Neuroendocrine Mechanisms?

“…Sympathetic activity decreases over the course of gestation, manifested by declining stress-induced changes in heart rate, blood pressure, and salivary alpha-amylase. 63,64 These changes appear to be attenuated in depressed pregnant women, who have higher heart rates and lower parasympathetic heart rate variability compared with nondepressed women. 65 No studies, to our knowledge, have measured sympathetic/parasympathetic balance in PPD, but major depression and anxiety are associated with reduced parasympathetic control in nonpregnant populations.…”